KSI's strained relationship with his father explained as Britain's Got Talent's Sonny Green leaves him in tears
Sonny's poem 'hit' KSI, who 'wasn't hugged' as a childBritain’s Got Talent judge KSI has been left in tears over his relationship with his father after watching poet Sonny Green in the latest semi-final.
KSI, 32, struggled to speak through crying after Sonny performed a poem called ‘You’ll Never Be Too Old to Get a Cuddle From Your Dad’.
The market trader had written the emotional poem as a letter to his two young sons.
The little boys appeared on stage at the end to give him a cuddle.
Viewers were surprised to see KSI almost sobbing at the audition.
KSI then opened up about his own dad and vowed to “be a better son” in front of the nation in the live show.
Moments later, his co-star Simon Cowell gave Sonny the Golden Buzzer.
KSI in tears over Britain’s Got Talent’s Sonny Green
Sonny’s semi-final audition was definitely an emotional one.
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Amanda Holden was also left in tears as he recited the words: “Buy your mum some flowers, open the door open for strangers and do your best to soak up the stress and smile. Even when you ‘ain’t got much left.”
Throughout, Sonny kept repeating the line: “You’ll never be too old to get a cuddle from your dad.”
“Pride comes before a fall, so be humble. But never forget who you are,” the dad-of-two also told his boys.
The poem finished with Sonny’s two little boys getting a cuddle from their dad in front of the emotional judging table.
When it came to his turn to critique the performance, KSI struggled to string a sentence together as the tears flowed.
Once composed, he admitted: “Sonny, that just… it really hit me. I know my relationship with my dad isn’t always the best so hearing those words makes me really thin about what I need to improve on.
“You’re great, I know I need to do better as a son. It really hit me.”
Alesha told Sonny his audition ‘affected her deeply’. Amanda said she is going to frame Sonny’s poem for her teenager daughter’s wall.
Simon, meanwhile, said: “You could hear a pin drop. Genuinely. I could see how emotional you were getting. I’m a dad and Sonny, all I can say is, you are gold.”
He then hit the Golden Buzzer, sending Sonny straight through to the 2026 Britain’s Got Talent Final.
Who is KSI’s dad?
KSI – real name Olajide Olayinka Williams ‘JJ’ Olatunji – appeared in his 2023 documentary, KSI: In Real Life, alongside his father. He confronted him about his ‘loveless childhood’.
“I don’t think you were that loving”, KSI said to his father in the Amazon Prime show. “Your dad never hugged you, and then you hardly ever hugged us.”
KSI also asked his dad why he “hit him” when he was a child. He said he appreciated everything his parents had done for him, including sending him to private school, but said he just wanted someone to “hug” him.
KSI later told The Standard: “My [parents] were always just working or they were dropping me off in school and picking me up and we’d just eat and then I’d be doing homework. We never really talked, and I was desperate to talk.”
The YouTube star did end up hugging his dad at the end of their chat in KSI: In Real Life. But he later admitted: “It felt so weird,
“My dad is very standoffish, so to get a hug like that, it was really a moment.”
Read more: ‘What on earth?’; Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon baffles fans with her bizarre semi-final outfit
