Kirk Franklin On Cursing Out His Son, Kerrion: ‘There is a standard and I didn’t meet it’
In an interview on The Breakfast Club that aired Thursday, June 16, 2022, Kirk Franklin (R) apologized for cursing out his son, Kerrion Franklin (L), admitting that he did not uphold the standard he should have. (Credit: EEW Magazine)
Tania Peterson // People // EEW Magazine Online
GRAMMY-winning gospel composer, Kirk Franklin, shocked millions around the world when a recording of him lambasting his son with expletives and threats went viral last year.
In a new interview with The Breakfast Club, the 52-year-old father of 34-year-old Kerrion Franklin – the one on the receiving end of the vulgar tongue-lashing – is taking accountability and acknowledging his failure.
Referencing the shocking audio as “my mixtape,” the songwriter who is actively promoting Kingdom Book 1, a musical collaboration with Maverick City, told co-hosts DJ Envy and Angela Yee that as a Christian leader, he knows, “There is a standard and I didn’t meet it.”
DJ Envy told the Fo Yo Soul recording artist that he has an 18-year-old son and unlike Franklin’s critics, he related to him flying off the handle on the phone call. “Some people were shocked, and some people weren’t. Me, myself, I wasn’t shocked. And the reason I wasn’t shocked is because your kids will get you to that point,” DJ Envy said.
Franklin responded, “Especially your grown kids.”
Kirk Franklin admits his behavior toward his son, Kerrion, was toxic and is publicly contrite to avoid normalization of such actions in the African American community (Credit: EEW Magazine)
Despite feeling provoked, the global gospel superstar felt an apology was in order because, according to him, he “did not want to normalize” toxic behaviors that some within the African American community have embraced.
Franklin suggested that abusive words like those he used in a heated exchange with the Bad Boys: Los Angeles cast member are “things that we expect as far as our culture, things that we may say, ‘Well that’s what my mama did to me.’ ‘That’s what my daddy did to me.’”
Even so, he stressed, “I don’t want to normalize it. I want to be able to acknowledge that there was a standard, and I didn’t meet the standard.”
The broad-ranging in-studio chat at Power 106.3 FM in New York touched on everything from disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly to strip clubs and secular music. Franklin, at times, was visibly uncomfortable but seemed more emotional, sedate and at times awkward when speaking about his son.
Kerrion Franklin stars in the Zeus Network reality TV show, Bad Boys: Los Angeles (Credit: Zeus via EEW Magazine)
Franklin said he and Shawn Ewing, the reality TV star’s mother, “historically have tried to keep our journey with our son a private family matter.” But once the back and forth was shared and discussed widely on the Internet, those once personal family issues – including Kerrion’s current mental health struggles – were thrust into the spotlight.
“I’ve done everything that I could to try to help him for many, many, many, many years,” Franklin said. “My son is a very talented, beautiful soul, and the way that he was wired is not necessarily his fault. Some of us are born with very unique wiring, and a lot of times in our community, it is hard for us to acknowledge certain wiring.”
Though Franklin remained vague about what he meant by “wiring” – never revealing an official diagnosis – he added, “I think that as a 34-year-old man, his willingness to accept the uniqueness of how God has wired him and to embrace it and to embrace the tools that are available will be a very beautiful thing.”
As the seemingly sincere father expressed his desire to see his son get mental health treatment, he also talked about Kerrion’s recent legal troubles.
The television personality, who was forced to come out as bi-sexual on his reality show, was recently released from an Orange County correctional facility following his arrest by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for allegedly driving a car that belonged to a missing woman, also presumed dead.
Authorities discovered a gun inside the reportedly stolen vehicle, but Kerrion denied owning the weapon or knowing the unidentified woman.
As the messy saga unfolded, Franklin, Executive Producer of BET’s “Kingdom Business” prioritized family business above all else and availed himself to help alongside Kerrion’s mother.
“I’m grateful that he felt like that in his darkest hour that we pulled up,” said Franklin. “At the end of the day, he’s still my son, and when something like that happened, all bets were off.”
The iconic musician whose world was rocked by the “mixtape” scandal, told The Breakfast Club, “I hadn’t talked to my son in five years when he called me.”
Although the dad was missing from his son’s life for an extended period, apparently, the love never went missing.
“I do want people to know, I love him. I want the world to hear it loud. I love my son,” Franklin said.
Watch the full interview below.
