He is truly starting back at one.
Brian McKnight was slammed online after he revealed that he legally changed his name to become a senior to his newborn son — although he was already a senior to his eldest son, Brian McKnight Jr.
“So proud to introduce our son 🤍BRIAN KAINOA MAKOA JR. 🤍,” the “Back at One” singer, 54, captioned a snap of the infant’s face on Instagram Friday.
“To the world with the release of my new album lovingly created for him. JR. because I am also proud to officially announce that I have legally changed my name to exactly match my legacy’s.”
The 17-time Grammy nominee — who shares the 9-month-old with wife Leilani Mendoza — said that his legal name is now Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr.
The name change prompted backlash from fans who called him “wicked” and “vile” for trying to disassociate himself from his four eldest children — McKnight Jr., Niko, Briana and Clyde — whom he has from previous relationships.
“Brian McKnight is so wicked,” tweeted one critic. “He changed his last name to Makoa McKnight so he could name his newborn Brian Makoa McKnight Jr., when he already has a son named Brian McKnight Jr. Idk how much more wicked one can be.”
“I’ve never seen anyone proudly demonstrate how much they hate their children like Brian McKnight,” added another. “Changing his name to match the new baby when he’s already got a Jr is next level cruel. he’s a trash human being for not only doing it, but also putting it on display to the world.”
“This is just…there are no words to describe how much of a vile human being you have to be to hurt your first born son, by doing some mess like this! #BrianMcknight is truly disgusting for this!” tweeted a third user.
McKnight Jr. took to Instagram Saturday to respond to his father’s new moniker after a fan suggested that he should change his name to not be attached to the R&B singer.
“I’m not ashamed of the name my ancestors had,” he replied. “I’ll never change the name my own son now has. We are witnessing an obscene level of self hate, that has reached mental illness status at this point.”
McKnight Jr., who is also a musician like his dad, said that he will welcome his new sibling “with open arms one day, once he realizes who his real family is.”
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He concluded his message by saying, “Legacy isn’t in the name. It’s in the character of the people. It will all be quite clear soon, just who’s on the right side of all this, because there’s no escaping what’s coming.”
McKnight Sr. has been at odds with his four eldest children for years.
In 2019, the “Anytime” singer shared a video online, calling his children “entitled.”
“I’ve never missed a day of child support,” he said at the time, per Essence. “I’ve never done anything adverse to my children whatsoever. I’ve always been there. I’ve always been there with advice, whether they took it or not.
“I have always been the sounding board and I’ve always been the one who had to help them achieve whatever dreams that they were wanting to reach out for.”
However, McKnight Jr. refuted his father’s claims, saying that his children and siblings don’t deserve to be mistreated.
“I don’t think there is any situation that merits the way my father has chosen to treat my brother, my sisters, and his grandchildren, one of which being his first born’s, first born son, who also bares our name,” he reportedly wrote Facebook in 2019.
“It’s insane to me. To have absolutely no empathy for the type of life be [sic] introduced us to, only to become to resent us for that life catching up with us. It breaks my heart, but not for myself, specifically for my siblings, and my children. They don’t deserve this at all.”
McKnight Sr. tied the knot with Mendoza in December 2017.
She is also a mom to two other kids from a previous relationship.
Page Six has reached out to McKnight Sr.’s rep for comment but did not immediately hear back.
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