Overview
- In a new interview with Marc Lamont Hill, Brian McKnight Jr. says his father told Niko, who was near death from cancer, “I can’t arbitrarily say that I love you.”
- Niko, born Cole Nikolas McKnight, died in May at age 32 after a multi‑year cancer battle, according to prior reports cited in the coverage.
- Brian McKnight has said he sought to help Niko during treatment but stopped after ex‑wife Julie McKnight allegedly intervened, a claim Julie denied as false in a statement to Page Six.
- An unnamed source told Page Six the singer did not reach out to the family after Niko’s death, while McKnight has said he held a private memorial with his immediate family in Maui.
- Recent context includes McKnight touting an $8 million–plus defamation judgment against Julie on social media, which Brian Jr. criticized, and a separate on‑air back‑and‑forth between McKnight and Marc Lamont Hill.