Remember when Brian McKnight was widely regarded as one of the strongest talents in the adult urban contemporary R&B genre? Doesn't seem that long ago, right? After all, this is a guy who has been nominated for 16 Grammys and even though has none to show for the nominations, he was always respected for his work.
However, in the past few weeks, the adult contemporary singer has brought new meaning to that phrase. For those of you not in the know – or who don't read or follow TMZ – we stumbled across a tid bit that the maestro hosted 15 (!) naked porn stars and one little person, aptly named 5 Cent, for a wild afternoon at his Los Angeles mansion as part of a video shoot for one of his recent X-rated songs, including a theme song for adult site YouPorn.com. The guy has gone from writing Grammy-nominated songs to hosting porn parties. Smells like another good ol' celebrity meltdown. R. Kelly called and wanted his title of The Dude Most Likely To Engage In Sex Related Activity To Ruin His Career back.
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In April, the singer released a song called “If You're Ready to Learn,” which features lyrics like, “Let me show you how your pussy works/Since you didn't bring it to me first.” When he has a song that's deemed too dirty to post on YouTube (which is saying something), that's the sign that his star has really fallen. Until now, you never would have suspected McKnight for the candidate to be the next Charlie Sheen. But at this point, he's done everything short of going on TV telling everyone he's a rock star warlock from Mars with tiger blood flowing through his veins.
Why would he ruin his career with such a move? The singer explained to TMZ Live he penned the song out of boredom while nursing a bum ankle. When was boredom a logical reason for a singer to write an X-rated song? Generally when people are bored, they watch TV or maybe call or text a friend, but write several potentially career-killing songs? This has got to be a first.
Of course, this all culminated in a video shoot with the porn stars and 5 Cent for another porn-influenced slow jam, which instead of the relatively tame ode to pussy, praises the virtue of anal. Why would he write such a song that would alienate his fans? To thank YouPorn.com for sending sales of his first X-rated song through the roof, of course. Like that makes sense. Lyrics like “You wanna see some fucking anal, I can get you close enough to smell,” show how badly this guy needs an A&R dude and shrewd PR to guide his career, and fast.
If you would have put money down at the beginning of 2012 and said Brian McKnight would be the one celebrity to have a major meltdown, then congratulations, you win. Otherwise, let's enjoy this for what it is: a celebrity who is so unaware of what he's doing that it's ridiculously comical, cringe-worthy and creepy.
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Daniel Kohn is a writer based in Southern California. With bylines in an assortment of outlets, Kohn primarily specializes in music with other interests ranging from sports to food. As a transplant, Kohn loves the beautiful weather and is glad he no longer has to deal with brutal winters. If you see him, say hi and of course, he’s always willing to down a beer or two…if you’re paying.