Brian McKnight's son and ex-wife are speaking out in response to the singer referring to his estranged children as "evil," RadarOnline.com has learned.
The Grammy-nominated singer, 54, took to social media to respond to backlash after praising his stepchild Julia McPhee as his "one and only daughter," despite having a biological yet estranged daughter, Briana McKnight.
In a reply to a comment on one of his Instagram posts, Brian wrote that his children were a "product of sin," and that he "didn't raise them their mothers did."
He also wrote: "In order to live a life that you love, you have to get rid of the evil and the negativity — even if that evil and negativity is related [to you]."
Brian's estranged son Niko McKnight expressed disbelief over his father's comments.
Niko, 28, wrote on the Shade Room “I’m evil. That’s wild: The guy who used to make me clean his used condoms out his bathroom at 15 before Lisa got home is calling me evil Fashoooooo.”
He went on to say in another comment that “The guy who forged [signatures] on our names is evil fashoooooooo.”
Niko, who is battling cancer, also commented on the situation in a series of posts on X.
He admitted that while he and his siblings were once "bad children," and that he was "spoiled beyond belief,” his sisters "have always deserved better."
"They don't deserve this outright disrespect," he declared. "Hate us all day. You don't get to be a piece of sh-- forever and still skate by with all that we know."
"We saved that man from federal prison," he alleged in another post. "That’s all I’m going to say. But after all of this, I still love him so much because I know there’s my dad in there somewhere."
He said his father is "a drone now," and concluded his post with "Miss you, Dad. Marcus Aurelius. Superman."
Julie McKnight, Brian's former wife, also posted to Instagram to weigh in on her ex's "horrible comments."
She expressed pride in the two sons they share and compared Brian's behavior to that of "a kid who throws a tantrum.”
“The point at the end of every negative situation, whether it’s an illness whether it’s a fool that you have to deal with because they keep entering your life when you are no longer giving any more energy to it, it’s to only keep you down to where they thought they had you because they were the author of an extremely abusive situation emotionally, mentally,” she said in a heartfelt speech.
RadarOnline.com exclusively reported last May that Brian fought his ex in court over reimbursing his estranged daughter’s birth control pills. Brian and Briana were also involved in a messy court battle for years.
In 2020, Briana sued her dad, alleging that he spread a “vicious lie” about her online. She claimed that he publicly accused her of having sexual relations with a relative, which she denied.
The case was settled before it went to trial, and McKnight leaked documents that showed he agreed to pay his "abandoned" daughter more than $200k.
The singer has been estranged from his four eldest children for some time, and has focused on his new family, including wife Leilani Mendoza and their infant son.