Kirk Franklin has broken his silence following the release of audio that captures him cursing out his son.
After a heated phone call with the “Stomp” musician, Kerrion Franklin reportedly leaked a clip of a phone call between him and his father. In the call, Kirk is heard directing a few expletives to his 33-year-old son.
“You need to get your skinny motherfucking ass back out the goddamn way before I put my foot in your ass. I will break your neck if you ever disrespect me,” he said before going quiet. Kerrion responded, “Did he just hang up the phone? ‘I’ll break your neck.’ Is that a threat?” adding, “This is why I’m done. No father should speak to their children like this.”
“Hanging up in my face, No apology, no compassion, no effort,” Kerrion continued about Kirk’s alleged mistreatment toward him. “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.”
“Kirk Franklin” became a trending topic on Twitter as surprised Christians reacted to Kirk’s use of expletives, and others said the conversation was a form of verbal abuse. Following the online criticism, the “Looking For You” hitmaker issued an apology to his fans.
“Many of you know I have an older son named Kerrion Franklin,” he said….”We have had a toxic relationship with him as a family. We’ve tried for many years — through counseling, through therapy — to try to rectify this private family matter.”
“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,” the gospel star continued. “I’m not perfect, I’m human, and I’m going to make mistakes…I’m trying to make it right. Please keep me and my family in your prayers.”
Kirk added that he enlisted the help of a family therapist during the call, but Kerrion didn’t post that part of their conversation.