Kirk Franklin says that his oldest child Kerrion is troubled and that is what led to the conversation that went viral. The conversation that was exposed to the world when Kerrion recorded audio to Instagram. Franklin said while on the Tamron Hall Show that his son had become “increasingly aggressive” in their encounters as he got older. Also that Kerrion has been in therapy for 20 years. The gospel star says that he and his wife and Kerrion’s mother, Shawn Ewing, have collaborated in supporting him according theGrio.

However, as the call revealed this hasn’t always been a smooth experience. During the phone conversation Franklin threatened to put a ‘foot in his son’s a—‘ teeling him he would ‘break his neck’ and said ‘Don’t you ever disrespect me.’ Now he says that the conversation was a part of ongoing problems between the pair.

“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…,”  Franklin told Hall, with his wife at his side.

“So you know this is them that we’ve been trying to rally for years to try to help and like I said 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.”

Franklin apologized to his fans for the language he used in the call with his son and wanted to clear up any allegations that he has abused him in the past.

“I’m confident that his mother, myself, Tammy, my family, 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…”

Read more:

Louisiana Prep School Founders Allegedly Falsified College Applications, Doctored Transcripts and Fostered a ‘culture of fear with physical and emotional abuse’ 

Chicago officer captured on video striking a teen

Oklahoma announcer calls high school girls’ basketball team racial slur while players kneel during national anthem