KIRK Franklin claimed his son Kerrion’s “disrespect became more aggressive” in their “toxic” bond after gospel singer’s rant leaked.
His son had shared a video of him and his father arguing over the phone where his father claimed he was going “break your neck” and put his “foot in your a**,” which caused fans to demand he be canceled.
In an interview with Tamron Hall, Kirk opened up about his relationship with his son while sitting next to his wife, Tammy Collins.
He told Tamron after she shared the video of their fight: “A lot of people in our family and community have privately known for over 20 years of the tensions and challenges we have been going through as a family.
“I have four children. When I married my wife, I had a son and my wife had a daughter, who had been adopted. And so my oldest son and my bonus daughter, who really is my daughter, we raised her together.
“And we have a great relationship with my oldest son’s mother, her name is Sean Ewing, she’s an incredible woman. Early on, Tammy, Sean and myself, we started to realize that there needed to be some deeper help with things that were happening with our son.
“When he was a teenager, we started him in therapy and counseling. We’ve had him in and out of counseling and therapy for 20 years.
“As Kerrion became a grown man, his disrespect became more aggressive and so, once again, family members and close friends – as a matter of fact, that was my close friend that was on the phone, I tried to get him on the phone to help with the situation. His name is John Drummond, so that was him who was laughing in the middle of the conversation.
“It wasn’t Sean, it wasn’t my wife, it was my best friend who is like an uncle to Kerrion. He’s known Kerrion since he was one, so as a family, we’ve been trying to rally for years to try and help.
“So now that he’s about to be 33, as a grown man, the relationship can become very agitated and very frustrating in trying to help but I’m not going to stop trying to help. He’s my son, he’s my firstborn and I don’t want him to feel what I felt not having a father so even though it gets tense and tight, when he calls from time to time, I will answer his call even though I expect it to just kinda derrail.
“It’s important for me because what if that call is the call where things change? So I never know and I never want to give up.
The gospel singer further revealed that sometimes they will go “a year or two” without speaking.
Just a few days ago, Kirk was forced to apologize after his son’s video was released on the Internet.
The 51-year-old admitted he lost his temper during the exchange where he allegedly mocked his son for being poor and threatened to put his foot in his “skinny motherf***ing a**.”
Kirk said in a heartfelt video that he shared with his 1.8million followers: “Recently my son and I had an argument that he chose to record.
“I felt extremely disrespected in that conversation and I lost my temper and I said words that are not appropriate and I am sincerely sorry to all of you. I sincerely apologize.”
The Love Theory singer went on to claim that his son has “for many years… had a toxic relationship” with the rest of the family.
Kirk said in the video that he had brought a family therapist onto the call to help pacify things between them all.
He went on: “We’ve tried for many years through counseling, through therapy to try to rectify this private family matter.
“I’m not perfect. I’m human and I’m going to make mistakes and I’m trying to get it right. Please keep me and my family in your prayers.”
Kerrion, who describes himself as an “author, producer, and cinematographer” on his social media profile, shared the phone call with his fans on Instagram.
Kirk allegedly shouts toward the end of the clip: “I will break your neck ni***, don’t you ever disrespect me.
“I didn’t,” Kerrion responded and the call abruptly ended.
At the time, Kerrion shared the clip on his Instagram, writing: “This is why I’m done. No father should speak to their children like this. If I have any issues it’s because of this type of treatment that I deal with behind closed doors.”
He continued: “Hanging up in my face, No apology, no compassion, no effort. Stop telling me to go home to my family. I don’t even know where they live.
“I don’t think I’ll ever trust my father to be alone around him ever again. I didn’t want to do this. I probably won’t release the entire recording because it’s too embarrassing that I’m even dealing with this.
“No matter what ppl think I pray my dad deals with his deep hatred toward me. I don’t feel safe around him at all.
Adding: “This recording is recent it is not from 2018 just to clarify. I’m going to learn from these experiences, live my life in peace and make beautiful art.”
After his dad shared his apology, the 32-year-old went on say he didn’t accept his dad’s apology.
He posted: “He apologized to his fans only and not me. This is why I’m Done.”
Kerrion went on: “Plz do not crucify my father. I am not here to bash him across the board. I didn’t even cuss in the recording.
“I just said what he said back to me. my father has been speaking very mean & manipulatively to me for 15 years now. My voice will be heard. I forgive him for the past pain.”
