Kirk Franklin has denied physically abusing his 33-year-old estranged son Kerrion. During an interview with Tamron Hall, Kirk, who appeared with his wife Tammy, talked about the ongoing issues with Kerrion, saying, “Early on, Tammy, Shawn Ewing and myself, we started to realize that there needed to be some deeper help with things that was happening with our son and so when he was a teenager, we started him in therapy and counseling and we’ve had him in and out of counseling and therapy for over 20 years, and as Kerrion became a grown man, when he became a grown man, his disrespect became more aggressive…”
Kirk continued, ” . . . now that he’s about to be 33 as a grown man the relationship at times can become very agitated and very frustrated…but I’m not going to stop trying to help, you know, he’s my son. He’s my son, he’s my firstborn, and I never 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 sometimes kind of derail. It’s important for me because what if that call is the call that things change. So I never know. And I never want to give up.”
On the claims that he abused Kerrion, he said, “. . . there’s never been anything physical that concerns me, or even makes me uncomfortable because I know the truth, he knows the truth, and I love him and as a grown man I am still this dad and when it becomes aggressive, I still have to have a level of respect, I got to have – I’m still your daddy. And you – there’s still got to be respect and there can’t be levels of disrespect but I’m confident that there hasn’t been any physical abuse. I mean, we’ve had therapy and counseling sessions and documentation long enough to know that the deeper issue is, we’ve been just trying to help our son…”
He added, “I respect Kerrion. I’m not Kerrion’s equal though. I’m not his equal, I’m his dad. And when you talk to me, especially about things that you say that you want from me, I can’t hear you when you are extremely aggressive when we’re communicating, and that’s why a lot of times, Kerrion and I haven’t talked sometimes for a year or two.”