Brian McKnight’s son Niko steps into the ring after Tyrese claims Rickey Smiley broke the man’s code by speaking out about McKnight’s failed relationship with adult children

Rickey Smiley desires to be a gift and male figure in the lives of Brian McKnight’s estranged biological children.

Over the past 12 months, the “Back at One” singer has faced unforgiving backlash for speaking openly about his breakdown in communication with his sons, Brian Jr. and Niko, in addition to daughter Briana.

Brian Sr. shares his sons with ex-wife Julie McKnight, who has been vocal on social media in the past about their father abandoning them. He also has a daughter from a separate relationship and one other son, Clyde, with one other woman.

Recently, a famous singer said that his offspring will not be from God. Responding to criticism for using biblical passages in his defense, McKnight said, “God wasn’t talking about children being the result of sin, which they are,” and that “I didn’t raise them; their mothers did it.”

In 2017, McKnight remarried to his current wife Leilani Mendoza. She has two adult children, Julia and Jack McPhee, from a previous relationship. In 2022, the couple welcomed their first child, a son named Brian Kainoa Makoa Jr. In 2023, the “Love of My Life” singer legally modified his surname to the surname of his youngest son.

In the May 6 video, Smiley invited the recording artist’s children. He said he was “completely stunned and horrified” to listen to the singer’s justifications for denying his own flesh and blood while warmly embracing his stepchildren as his only children.

“I just want to tell Brian McKnight’s children – all his children – the ones he said were born into evil, born from evil… whatever he claims or whatever – that you have a lot of support here,” the radio host said.

Smiley went on to inform the three young adults that they were all the time welcome in his home state of Alabama: “Where there are men and uncles, and there are a lot of people in Birmingham who take in children abandoned by their fathers. I’ve seen a lot of it.”

Moreover, the veteran comic said: “If you ever feel any way or feel unloved and you would like male figures, father figures, there are people like me here. (…) You will not be thrown away, you will not be trash, you might be loved, you belong respect you.”

He continued, “We’re not here to try to switch your father, which is unimaginable, but we might be something for you. Just remember to step into maturity and live your life and get the help and therapy you would like so you may move on because words hurt. And such things hurt lots. You know, whenever you say things like that, it is a bell that cannot be called off.

Speaking more on to the songwriter, he noted that “you is likely to be positive with your latest wife and all that, but she won’t find a way to offer you a kidney. She probably won’t find a way to offer you a chunk of liver, organ, or blood.

Smiley told McKnight to get off his “high horse… thinking you were doing something.” It can have to be one in all your children who can have to step in to avoid wasting your life.

Fans applauded his kind words, which got here a 12 months after his oldest child, Brandon Smiley, died of an accidental overdose at the age of 32. Singer Tyrese, nonetheless, stated that “in my opinion as a grown man, it’s unfair” for Smiley to speak about one other man’s family dynamics.

“I’m not addressing Brian or his wife, it’s none of my business. I’m just responding to Ricky Smiley’s comment,” the “Baby Boy” actor said. He then defended Brian Sr. by saying that your children will hurt you, making the relationship “toxic” and “unstable.”

“There are a lot of things that have been said and done over the years that are nobody’s business that have contributed to where they are,” Tyrese continued.

Although he admitted that he knew his musical peer personally, he said that they never talked about the disowned children or his exes.

Tyrese doubled down on his support when he said moms can corrupt a toddler’s perspective on their father by “brainwashing” and alienating a co-parent. He also revealed that his logic was influenced by his own struggles with the moms of his two daughters. Like Brian Sr. who was dating response.

“Rickey Smiley recently lost his oldest son. Life is such that you cannot afford to give up your children! Rickey Smiley supports them from a different place/perspective in his heart. @tyrese just learn to SHUT UP sometimes,” we read in one in all the comments. Someone else declared: “Defending Brian McKnight’s behavior is crazy.”

A 3rd person wrote: “Narcissistic people love to insert themselves into situations where they can play the victim.”

Tyrese has since deleted videos of himself defending Brian Sr.’s actions and words.

In a move to “cancel” him, he fled to Europe for a romantic getaway with his wife. While traveling, Brian Sr.’s concert in Detroit, originally scheduled for June 9, was canceled because fans complained about him and his approach to parenting.

After watching the entire discussion, Brian’s son Niko spoke out a couple of weeks after his father claimed his mother blocked him for offering support while battling cancer.

“When I used to be a child, Tyrese slept under our pool table. I do know the blood of the ’90s RnB fraternity is thicker than the rest, but you must wait it out, champ,” he wrote on his IG story, captured by Shadow Room. “You have relationships by which you may repair your individual children and your past decisions that you just made in the name of p…s and power. Allegiance to those two things keeps you from seeing that in the end, family is the only thing that matters. Real men cannot see beyond bulls… Vol.

He finished: “But let me stop. That 46-hour shot of chemo prepared me for Jody’s disappearance. It’s not like that.”