‘I’ve tried, man’: Brian McKnight Jr. calls out his father over ‘petty’ IG post celebrating $8.8M judgement vs. ex-wife

The McKnight family drama continues on what would have been Nico McKnight’s 33rd birthday.

Less than a day after Brian McKnight toasted to a legal victory against his ex-wife, his son Brian McKnight Jr. is hitting back at his estranged father.

McKnight Jr. took to his Instagram stories to call out McKnight for the celebration, as it came on the anniversary of his late brother Niko’s birthday.

“I’ve tried, man. I’ve tried really, really hard. To not touch on sh-t. To let it go, to be the bigger person, to be mature,” McKnight Jr. said. 

“But the sh-t going on with my dad right now, man. If y’all aren’t seeing what’s happening. If y’all aren’t seeing the fact that this is just a very hurt, and a very emotionally unavailable and not intelligent person that has still not been able to handle the death of his own mother … to decide to make certain posts on my late brother’s birthday?”

McKnight concluded, “Say what you want, dog. But the gloves are off for me.”

On Thursday (Oct. 16), McKnight took to his Instagram account, claiming he had won an $8.8M judgment against his ex-wife in a defamation case after she failed to appear in court. According to court documents, McKnight was awarded a default judgment in September, though exact monetary terms were not revealed.

“It’s been a long journey getting to this day: October 16th, 2025,” Brian said in his IG video. “The verdict is in. We’ve been quiet, listening to liars continue to lie and keeping to ourselves, living and loving our life. As we said, leaving everything in God’s hands and letting our lawyer do the talking. But according to the courts, trying to ruin my name and trying to bring harm to my family in a book filled with lies equals $8.8 million. And this is just the beginning.”

McKnight took legal action against his ex-wife after the release of her book, Mama Bear: Beautifully Blended, wanting compensatory damages after alleging she made “false statements” against him and falsely accused him of emotionally abusing and harassing her.

Niko McKnight died in May after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 32. He would have turned 33 on Thursday (Oct. 16).

McKnight Jr. labeled his father’s post as “petty” while admitting his parents’ marriage was difficult and chided his father for celebrating such a win on his brother’s birthday.

“You don’t want me to start talking about the things that I had to deal with in my childhood,” McKnight Jr. explained. “The things that I will take to my grave. The things that my brother took to his grave that we could put out there. The things that we could say … because our dad wasn’t emotionally intelligent enough nor mature enough to actually be a father. You don’t want that.”