Mathew Knowles discusses Jay Z and Solange Elevator Fight

Posted On : February 13, 2018

Well hopefully Mathew Knowles isn’t pulling a “Quincy Jones” and starting to spill all the family’s tea in an effort to sell his book, but he’s beginning to talk about unknown family secrets.

The Lemonade singer’s sister famously lashed out at her brother-in-law in an elevator following the 2014 Met Gala, with the footage that leaked soon after becoming a viral sensation. All of this happened while Beyonce stood next to them.

The Elevator Fight

And while it later transpired to be over Jay-Z’s infidelity, something he spoke about after the release of his last album, Beyonce’s father, Mathew Knowles, has now spoken out about it.

But appearing on today’s Good Morning Britain to promote his new book – Racism: From the Eyes of a Child – Mathew insisted his daughter’s will have learned from the experience.

HOST: ‘When you witness things like Solange, 31, in the elevator seemingly attacking Jay-Z and reported marriage problems – is it hard as a parent to step back?’

‘It’s always hard for a parent to let go. I felt the same way when I was growing up, I didn’t want to be under my parents’ nest so I understand that.

‘I hope, and I feel very calm and comfortable about this, that they’ve been given the tools to be successful.

‘Are they going to make mistakes? Absolutely. But mistakes are a reason to grow.I’m more concerned about the racism and colourism.’

Jay-Z, 48, himself spoke about the incident last August and said the family had moved on from what had happened and he was still on good terms with Solange.

He told E! Online: ‘We had one disagreement ever. Before and after, we’ve been cool. She’s like my sister. I will protect her. That’s my sister, not my sister-in-law. My sister. Period.’

Beyonce’s Lighter Skin

Mathew re-asserted previous comments he had made that part of Beyoncé’s success in the US pop radio market is that she’s lighter skinned.

‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘I’ve been in the music industry for 25 years. When I made that statement, I was speaking specifically as our radio is in America.

‘We have urban radio and we have pop radio. When we look at pop radio we can look, I don’t use Beyoncé or Solange my younger daughter, I really talk about Mariah Carey and others, Rihanna, that it’s just a known fact, if we look over the last ten years, and we look at colourism – which is discrimination based on the shade of colour – it’s a fact.

‘It’s a fact that Beyoncé or any of the other artists, Alicia Keys, I can go on and on, a shade of colour does make a difference in pop radio.’

https://youtu.be/UtTeoyS6bSU

 

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