Brian McKnight on the Defensive Over X-Rated Song
We all know that about half of the Web consists of porn, and an almost-as-big portion is people oversharing intimate thoughts they wish they could take back. To that effect, Brian McKnight killed two birds with one stone, or rather one song, that had the Internet going nuts — but for all the wrong reasons. Yesterday, Monday, April 24, as part of what he called an "adult mixtape," the acclaimed singer released an explicit song online, but quickly took it down after widespread criticism.
The song, titled "If You're Ready to Learn," is a far cry from the more milquetoast, grandma-friendly offerings for which McKnight is known. In the song's video, which he posted to his Twitter and YouTube pages but has since deleted, McKnight explains the concept behind the freaky-deaky mixtape, and warns that it's NSFW, to say the least. He then begins to sing the song's shocking hook: "Let me show you how your p---y works. Bet you didn't know that it could squirt / I have lots of things to show you, if you're ready to learn." Yes, this is the same guy who sang "One Last Cry" and "My Kind of Girl."
The song quickly went viral, becoming a trending topic last night, and had the singer defending himself for several hours online. "Okay im taking it down and ill never do it again," McKnight tweeted. "I thought it was pretty clever ... it's just an experiment."
He noted that it was ironic that people paid more attention to this song than anything else he's done recently. "I'm putting up a safe song," he said. "Jeez no sense of humor but i trended for a little while. Its just sad that this is what i had to do to get most of these people to even acknowledge me ... I think I just mind effed the whole world this is crazy!!!!!"
It's not clear if Brian McKnight will still release his adult mixtape as planned, but you may want to hide your kids now, just in case.
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(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)