Brian McKnight Jr. and his mother Julie McKnight continue to slam singer Brian McKnight, as they now address his claim of them ‘martyring’ his son Niko McKnight in his “preventable” stage 4 colon cancer death.
Brian McKnight’s Estranged Relationship With Eldest 4 Children
Brian McKnight — who shares sons Brian Jr. and Niko with Julie; daughter Briana McKnight with ex Patricia Driver; and son Clyde McKnight with an unidentified woman — has had an estranged relationship with his eldest four children for several years. In 2019, the 56-year-old R&B singer even called his eldest children “entitled.”
The singer’s tumultuous relationship with his eldest children even led him to legally change his name in October 2023. At the time, he made the move to become a senior to his then-newborn son, Brian Kainoa Makoa Jr., whom he shares with his wife, Leilani Mendoza. To clarify, Brian Sr. did this despite already being a senior to his eldest son, Brian Jr., 35, whom he shares with Niko’s mom, Julie, 53.
In April 2024, Brian Sr. again slammed his estranged biological children, now disowning and calling them all a “product of sin.” During a Q&A on Instagram, he told fans, “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].” Niko responded to his father’s comments and dragged him online.
That same month, Brian Sr. also accused his ex-wife, Julie, of blocking his help amid Niko’s cancer battle. In May of that year, Niko again blasted his father and fellow R&B legend Tyrese, who defended Brian Sr. after disowning his children.
Brian McKnight’s Son Niko Dies After 2-Year Colon Cancer Battle
Amid Brian McKnight’s estranged relationship with his children, his son Niko McKnight sadly passed on May 29, 2025. Niko’s mother Julie McKnight confirmed the news on Instagram. She revealed that her second son succumbed to a two-year battle with stage 4 colon cancer. He was 32.
She captioned a photo of herself with Niko and Brian Jr. and said:
“Nikolas was a cherished husband, son, brother, grandson, uncle, and nephew whose warmth, laughter, and love touched the lives of all who knew him. Nikolas was a self taught artist of music and photography. His passing is an immeasurable loss to his family and all those who held him dear.”
The grieving mother ended her post by asking the public for privacy during this difficult time in the family’s lives. After the news broke, reports surfaced alleging Brian Sr. made zero effort to reunite with his estranged son before he passed. It was also alleged that he never “reached out to the family” in the days after Niko’s passing.
Brian McKnight Sr. finally broke his silence on his son’s passing. However, it was only after his ex-wife Julie and his own brother, Claude McKnight, commented on his silence. He called their statements “tasteless.”
Brian McKnight Claims Niko’s Mother And Family ‘Martyred’ Him In ‘Preventable’ Stage 4 Colon Cancer Death
Seven months after Niko McKnight’s colon cancer death, his mother Julie McKnight and brother Brian McKnight Jr. continue slamming the “Back At One” singer. During an interview with Marc Lamont Hill, the mother-and-son duo let it all out. As Julie called her ex-husband “belittling,” his eldest son, and first jr., dragged him for allegedly refusing to say, “I love you,” to Niko, which was his dying wish.
While speaking Hill, the duo also addressed Brian Sr.’s claims that they martyred Niko in a colon cancer death that was “preventable.” During a November 2025 interview with Anton Daniels, Brian Sr. claimed his son didn’t have to die. He began by saying:
“My mother loved my father to the day she died. But she went to her maiden name and they got divorced. My father got remarried. He’s been married for 40 years. This is a cycle that continues to happen. And I can’t speak for everybody else’s situation. The saddest part of this is that the younger one ended up dying.”
Daniels said, “Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. How do you feel about that? Because a lot of people make a big deal about—if we just being transparent—posts that you may make on the anniversary of the passing.” Brian Sr. replied:
“God’s timing. That was the day that the judge told us what the amount was. It had nothing to do with that. But I will say this. I believe it’s God’s timing because Anton, he did not have to die. When we talked—and we did talk to him—we talked to his wife. We got to go back…
So, earlier that year, that May, he’s on The Shade Room. He’s saying things like—now remember, they’ve lied on me, but they continue to double down and triple down on the rhetoric— ‘Oh, if my dad needed this, I wouldn’t do this for him. He’s dead to me, blah, blah, blah.’
Now we come to find out that three days after that’s when he got diagnosed. They waited because he didn’t have insurance. They waited four months to let us know. [After they found out that he was diagnosed] they waited four months.
According to all statistics, 91% of colon cancer diagnosis that are called early are curable. From the time he got diagnosed to the time we found out—because they didn’t tell us. I had to find out from somebody else. Then, I heard from them. We were the last to find out. So, once we found out, we sprung into action. ‘What can we do? Can we get the scans? Can we do this? Can we do that?’ Anton, by this time, it was stage four. Stage four.
So, you’ve lied on me. You don’t come to me. In my opinion, they martyred him so that they could keep this going. That’s what I truly believe. Everybody’s heard that voicemail. I will leave with you the messages that we sent. Leilani sent a message that said to his wife, ‘You don’t even have to tell him that it’s us. We just want to help whatever we can do.’ And then they’re like, ‘Well, he would have had to stay at your house and they wouldn’t have been able to see him.’ I’m like, ‘We never made that a stipulation.’
The facility that we found, the only one that would allow him to come, was closer to our house. That’s why we have an entire apartment downstairs with its own entrance. His wife wouldn’t have to work. You can take care of him all day. Leilani wanted to take care of him. And his mother sent that message after we sent the message to him. This is what happened.
And it gets worse. So, she puts out the book in January. She’s on an interview, I think in February, with Foxy 104.5 or whatever in Raleigh. They ask, ‘How he’s doing.’ She says, ‘He’s healed. He’s healing and he’s doing fine. He’s doing great.’ Now, realize they blocked us all on social media. We don’t know what’s going on with them. The next thing we know, he’s passed.
That message that I played for everybody was 20 months before he passed away. That was not near the end. It was still when something could be done at the very least to make him more comfortable. But you see, they ran out there immediately and said, ‘He never spoke to him. He didn’t come to him. Here’s all these messages on Twitter.’ I deactivated my Twitter four years ago or something like that. I don’t know. They didn’t tag me. Nobody could call. Everybody’s got my number. So, they could say, ‘He didn’t even…’ I didn’t know. Last I heard, you said, ‘He was doing great.'”
Brian McKnight Jr. And Julie McKnight Slam Brian McKnight For Claiming They Martyred Niko In ‘Preventable’ Stage 4 Colon Cancer Death
Responding to Brian Sr.’s “preventable” and “martyred” claims, Brian Jr. and Julie called the singer” diabolical” and “evil.” Brian Jr. did, “Do you understand how unbelievable that is?” Julie added, “When I heard that… There’s no other way to explain that as a mom then as Diabolical.” Brian Jr. added, “Yeah, it’s evil.”
Julie continued, “That is that is evil—first of all, my son, at that age, the diagnosis—which I want a lot of people to understand—which is a movement that we, and he and his wife, we want to be very clear—that when young people are diagnosed with colon cancer, by the time they’re diagnosed, they are stage four. So, when the comment was made that, ‘He was diagnosed…and then he was dead… He was diagnosed at stage 4.”
Brian Jr. urged, “Ask my dad how many times he told us to go to the doctor. Ask my father how often he cared about any of those types of things. It was ‘preventable,’ right? What did you do to help?”
Hill replied, “He says y’all didn’t have healthcare. He didn’t say why, but he said you all didn’t have healthcare. Basically, what I heard from it—I don’t want to put words in his mouth—was almost that y’all were irresponsible, that you didn’t have health coverage, and so you didn’t go to the doctor, and that’s why.”
Julie replied:
“See, those for me are the petty comments that at this point, it absolutely belittles the amount of work that my daughter did once the diagnosis was made. You can’t just toss out that he was that sick. Niko had multiple things that started to happen with him, as a result of being stage four at his diagnosis. And he needed immediate care, emergency surgeries. I mean, surgery after—to hear, at the point where you want to say that we, because of you, are going to not, me as a mother, am going to purposely not care for my son to work your nerves? Who are you? And then to hear that we all the dis—you want to talk about disrespect?—to my daughter, to his wife, and to Niko…
And the last thing that anyone will remember of my son are any of the things that he wants to talk about. Any of the things that he wants to talk about, that will not be my child’s memory. It will not. It will constantly be that he was a good man. Constantly. He was amazing. He’s an amazing husband, son, talented, one of the top photographers in the game. Talk about that, man. Talk about that. Genius. Talk about that. You want to talk about that his life and the consistency of it and the totality of it is that he passed away from cancer and no one helped him? That is not the truth. I have no reason. I have no reason. It’s evil and that at this moment…”
Brian Sr. interjected, “It’s despicable. It’s evil. At this moment, to now want to act like you’re holy in some way? I’m not rocking with him.”
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