Recently, Brian McKnight has been vocal about his relationship with his adult children on social media. He has pretty often said some toxic things about his children from his first marriage with Julie McKnight and previous relationships, and now he’s doubling down and calling his Black children “products of sin” and “evil.”

One of McKnight’s social media followers commented their support for McKnight being estranged from his first set of kids for years, to which McKnight replied, “I wanna big up my man right here. He gets it. 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].”

McKnight married Leilani Mendoza in 2017, and the two welcomed a son together in 2023, who they named Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Jr. McKnight had his name legally changed to Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. to ensure he's a senior to his newborn baby, even though he's already a senior to his oldest son Brian McKnight Jr. 

McKnight claims that he and his new family want to use “their platform” for positivity, and he wants to stray away from negativity, which includes his Black children. Another social user asked about how his “one and only daughter,” Julia, feels when he doesn’t claim his biological daughter, Briana. Julia is Leilani’s daughter from a previous relationship. 

McKnight responded, "She feels great. See, Julia understands the scripture Exodus 20:12, where it says, and I quote, ‘Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days be long upon the land.’ See, she honors us, and in turn, we honor her because she knows how proud of her we are.”

While McKnight only has positive things to say about Leilani’s kids, this R&B legend seems to go out of his way to hurt his previous family. Julie McKnight and Brian were married for 13 years (1990-2003) and share two sons, Brian Jr. and Niko. Reportedly, McKnight also has a biological daughter named Briana with Patricia Driver and a son named Clyde with a woman unknown to the public.

Julie seemingly responded to the father of her children, calling them products of sin. She said, “The point 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 anymore energy to it, is to only keep you down to where they thought they had you because they were the author of an extremely abusive situation emotionally, mentally. And they’re no good at not being the center of attention anymore. So when everybody pulls that away, it’s like a kid without candy who throws a tantrum…”