WHY IS THE BRIAN
McKNIGHT BLACK
RADIO LAWSUIT SO
IMPORTANT?
An analysis
By Cash Michaels
By now you’ve heard of that crazy defamation lawsuit singer Brian “Back at One” McKnight has recently filed against Black-owned and operated Raleigh-Durham radio station Foxy 107.1 WFXC-FM, along with of its longtime announcer, Karen Clark, and its corporate owner, Urban One, Inc. out of Silver Springs, Maryland.
McKnight’s lawsuit also targets the nationally syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show, which is also affiliated with Urban One, Inc. and heard on WJMH 102.1 FM in Greensboro and WOSF-FM105.3 in Charlotte, among other stations across the state and nation.
In a nutshell, McKnight claims the popular “urban adult contemporary” station that plays R&B and classic soul music, on January 23rd, 2025, aired
“a recorded interview” conducted by Ms. Clark with McKnight’s ex-wife, singer Julie McKnight, from its Raleigh studio that was defamatory, “negligent and reckless publication and supervision, vicarious liability/respondeat superior” with punitive damages seeking at $25,000 separately for each count.
That recorded interview, which was promoted by the station, and based on Julie McKnight’s book,”Mama Bear: Beautifully Blended,” accused Brian McKnight of “…abuse, neglect, dishonesty, and intentional interference with careers…” as well as being an “emotionally abusive, mentally abusive, and a neglectful father…,” his lawsuit contends.
Brian McKnight strongly disputes his ex-wife’s allegations.
“Those same allegations were reintroduced, endorsed, and amplified during the FOXY 107.1 broadcast,” the lawsuit continues, adding that the interview aired over “terrestrial radio and simultaneously published to [Foxy’s] official YouTube channel,” where a 3 minute :34 second clip of it remained as of March 14th, when this analysis was written.
Now, I’m not going to go through all of the ugly blow-by-blows between the warring ex-McKnights. There’s a lot of tawdry stuff there that you can go online and read up on for yourself if you choose.
The point of my writing this analysis is not to take sides or air dirty laundry. I have no dog in this fight. But being an old AM radio disc jockey years before I began working in the Black Press, what stood out to me when I first read this story was, “How did this, by all accounts, well-run, well-managed Black-owned radio station, which has been in the community for many, many years (I was still on the air when Foxy 107.1 FM first came on) find itself in the crosshairs of a lawsuit it could have easily avoided?
Mind you, I’m not saying Foxy should never have done the interview. After all, Julie McKnight was out hawking her book. That’s perfectly fine no matter what the allegations.
But what the ex-wife of singer Brian McKnight was saying and doing amounted to a “personal attack,” by any standard.
I’m not a broadcast attorney, but there is a “Personal Attack Rule” broadcasters are supposed to follow in cases like this to satisfy their responsibility as an FCC public licensee.
The station is supposed to notify the subject of the attack, provide a tape or accurate summary of what was said if a recording is not available, and offer a reasonable opportunity to that subject to respond over the licensee’s station.
Is it a personal attack if what she’s alleging against her ex-husband is true? There’s the rub. The radio station, knowing that they would have her on, and knowing that she would come full of personal allegations against her famous ex-husband, had a duty to at least offer Brian McKnight the same opportunity on their airwaves later on to defend himself.
Inform his management or attorney in a reasonable about of time from the original ex-wife’s interview, send them the tape, then put the allegations to either him or his designated representative with the appropriate opportunity and time for response even by phone, and that’s it.
And if Brian McKnight or someone representing him doesn’t respond in a reasonable period to either written or electronic communications, that’s it, the station has fulfilled its responsibility to its broadcast license. McKnight alleges none of that happened.
That’s the part that makes this concerning on the part of why WFXC-FM’s management allegedly allowed this lawsuit-in-the-making to happen in the first place. Their job - from the corporation, to the corporate attorney, station general manager and certainly the program director, is to protect the station’s broadcast license which allows it take to the public airwaves, serve in the public interest and make money. Without that Federal Communications Commission broadcast license, which establishes standards in order to protect people from being personally or professionally hurt or injured due to a one-sided attack on their being, radio and TV stations are just studios that no one can see or hear from.
But wait a minute, you say. You listen to the radio, or watch cable TV a lot, and folks there are always saying something nasty about the president or some politician or celebrity they don’t like.
First of all, cable TV isn’t regulated by the FCC, so there are no federal broadcast standards to lord over. Secondly, politicians and elected officials can say nasty things about each other up to a point. Some have indeed been sued. Which is why most attack ads are documented.
Celebrities, like Brian McKnight, who feel personal attacks by an ex-wife can hurt his ability to market himself as an entertainer and earn a living, do go to court to protect their name. And because Foxy 107.1FM, Urban One, Inc. and syndicated radio host Rickey Smiley (who allegedly ran a podcast segment in December 2025 that also contained hurtful allegations against Brian McKnight) have what lawyers call “deep pockets,” McKnight is targeting them specifically for damages.
Announcer Karen Clark, who did the fateful interview with Julie McKnight, was also named in the suit, but most likely because she’s an employee, she will be covered by her company.
By the way, this whole thing is likely to be settled out of court by Urban One’s corporate liability insurer, unless Brian McKnight decides going through a painful discovery and court proceeding is worth it. But that’s just my opinion.
On February 20th, an attorney for Urban One filed a “notice of removal” of the lawsuit from State Superior Court in Wake County to the United States District Court for Eastern North Carolina so that it can be heard by a federal judge.
The reason for the requested move to federal court is that Brian McKnight lives in Georgia, while Urban One is headquartered in Maryland, and Karen Clark lives in North Carolina.
Urban One denies any and all allegations.
Editor’s note - the writer of this analysis formerly worked at radio stations WSRC-1410AM in Durham; WLLE-570 AM in Raleigh and WAUG-750AM in Raleigh for over 20 years serving in various programming and administrative capacities.
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STATE AUDITOR FINDS
MORE FISCAL PROBLEMS
AT WINSTON-SALEM/FORSYTH SCHOOLS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
A North Carolina public school district that in 2022-23, according to the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, had a 24% black student population that was over six times more likely than their white classmates to receive a short-term suspension and over there times less likely than white students to score “Career and College Ready" on final exams, is in trouble again for alleged fiscal mismanagement.
The first investigation by the Office of the NC Auditor of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County System determined that there was an estimated $46 million budget deficit, caused primarily because of alleged fiscal mismanagement.
But now a followup “Rapid Response Special Report” finds that for fiscal year 2025 the school system reportedly delayed recording $15 million in expenditures.
“Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools remains far from having healthy budgeting practices in place,” said state Auditor Dave Boliek in a statement. “Approximately $15 million in expenditures were not properly recorded for months, and the school system yet again failed to complete monthly reconciliations.”
The followup investigation determined that the Winston-Salem/Forsyth School System waited until after fiscal year 2025 was over, in September of that year, to then charged those expenditures June 2025, the last one of that fiscal year.
The state Auditor’s Office found other alleged fiscal practices that it says contributed to the school system lack of sound budget practices.
“The additional findings of financial misconduct the team uncovered in our follow-up show a failure to keep their books straight,” state Auditor Boliek said. “Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools owes parents, teachers, and students accountability.”
One of the state’s largest public school systems, Winston-Salem/Forsyth Schools has had fiscal mismanagement problems before, according to published reports. The student population has dropped by more than 3,000 students since 2018, even though has staffing has increased by 245 positions, causing per pupil enrollment funding problems.
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