R&B singer Brian McKnight sues son, ex-wife as public battle intensifies

A prolonged public battle between legendary R&B singer Brian McKnight and his ex-wife and their son has escalated, with the award-winning performer filing a defamation lawsuit in Atlanta against them and others.

McKnight, who lives in Georgia, sued his ex-wife, Julie McKnight, and their son, Brian McKnight Jr., in federal court Tuesday. His complaint also includes claims against the New York Post and media personalities Marc Lamont Hill and Latasha Transrina Kebe.

McKnight says his ex-wife and their son have been lying publicly about him for years to generate attention and financial opportunities, falsely accusing him of abandoning his children, among other things. He said the latest defamatory comments against him included that he refused to comfort another son he had with Julie McKnight, Cole Nikolas “Niko” McKnight, before he died from cancer in May last year at the age of 32.

“Fictitious allegations that Plaintiff is emotionally cruel, morally depraved, or incapable of expressing love to his dying child strike directly at the foundation of the public identity he has spent decades building,” McKnight wrote in his lawsuit.

The defendants did not comment Wednesday on the case.

McKnight said he previously won an $8.8 million default judgment against Julie McKnight, a North Carolina resident, in an earlier defamation case he filed against her after she released a book months before the death of their son. He said she’s in breach of a 2014 separation agreement they signed after their divorce, which includes a non-disparagement clause.

Brian Williamson, one of McKnight’s attorneys in the Georgia case, said Julie McKnight is challenging the default judgment in the earlier case, filed in North Carolina.

Williamson said McKnight would have preferred a private reconciliation but can no longer stand by as the lies told about him continue to harm his career and private life.

In the lawsuit, McKnight says the defamatory statements made by Julie McKnight and Brian McKnight Jr., a California resident, were recklessly repeated and published through various media platforms. He said associated threats have been made against members of his family, including his current wife, Leilani McKnight, and their 3-year-old son.

“It’s gotten to the point where there’s no other choice,” Williamson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. “It’s either remain silent and have people believe that the lies are true, or pursue vindication. He chose to pursue vindication.”

The claims against the New York Post, Hill and Kebe stem from public interviews with Julie McKnight and Brian McKnight Jr. in the past year.

McKnight said the media defendants intentionally and recklessly portrayed him as a bad father and an “unrepentant serial adulterer” who impregnated a teenage girl, among other things, without seeking his input or trying to verify the accusations.

Hill is a Pennsylvania resident whose media content includes a podcast, according to the lawsuit. Hill has more than 600,000 followers on Instagram.

Kebe, whose YouTube channel has 1.3 million subscribers, moved to Florida from Georgia in recent years after being hit with a $3.8 million jury verdict in a defamation case filed in federal court in Atlanta by rapper Belcalis Almánzar, whose professional name is Cardi B.

Kebe, known professionally as “Tasha K,” filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida after losing to Cardi B at trial in 2022.

McKnight said his relationship with his sons with Julie McKnight deteriorated in 2019, when false statements they made about his parenting started circulating publicly. He said he honored Julie McKnight’s wishes that he limit contact with their sons, but the vitriol escalated over the years into “shockingly dishonest and malicious attacks” on him “for the purpose of profiting from malicious character assassination.”

McKnight said the recent public attacks contributed to declining attendance at his concerts and “multiple cancellations by various venues.”