Beyoncé Knowles’ father Mathew has claimed his daughter and Jay Z’s divorce rumours were to “ignite” ticket sales and he also hinted footage of the infamous lift incident between his daughter Solange and Jay was leaked to improve the trio’s ticket and album sales.
The couple have been hit by speculation their marriage is on the rocks in recent weeks but Mathew insists the rumours are simply a “Jedi mind trick” to boost ticket sales for Beyoncé and Jay’s joint On The Run tour.
Speaking on the Roula & Ryan show on radio station 104.1 KRBE in Houston, Mathew – who used to manage Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child – said: “I know, because we’ve done this. From experience, there’s a tour going on. So you sometimes have to ignite that tour. It’s called a Jedi mind trick. The Jedi mind trick fools you a lot.”
The 63-year-old businessman also hinted footage of the infamous elevator incident between Beyoncé’s sister Solange Knowles and Jay, which saw her lash out at her brother-in-law in a lift following a Met Ball after-party, was leaked to improve the trio’s ticket and album sales.
He added: “All I know is the Jedi mind trick. Everyone’s talking about it. Ticket sales went up. Solange’s album sales went up 200 per cent!”
Beyoncé and Jay appeared to play down rumours they are set to get divorced when their On The Run tour comes to an end in September by making a family appearance at the MTV VMAs on Sunday night. The couple took to the stage with their two-year-old daughter Blue Ivy at the ceremony at The Forum in California when Beyoncé collected her Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
As the “Single Ladies” hitmaker’s family presented Beyoncé with the lifetime achievement award, Blue voiced her approval, shouting: “Yay, mommy!”
Meanwhile, Karrueche Tran was prompted to make a joke about Blue’s MTV VMAs hairstyle live on television, saying they don’t comb their daughter’s hair.
The 26-year-old model was hosting an episode of 106 & Park on BET, in which she and co-host Brandon Broady were discussing the weekend’s MTV Video Music Awards, when she was prompted to make a comment about the superstar couple’s daughter – whose hair was worn in a wild afro style on the night.
Following Brandon’s introduction of a segment titled ‘The top six things Blue Ivy thought about the VMAs’, Karrueche said: “I really did wake up like this because my parents never comb my hair.” Immediately after delivering the joke – which played on the lyrics of Beyoncé’s hit single “***Flawless” – Karrueche apologised saying, “Sorry Blue, I love you!”
The brunette beauty – who recently got back together with her on-again off-again boyfriend Chris Brown – later claimed the script had been changed following rehearsals and she’d had no choice but to read it off the teleprompter.
She told gossip site TMZ: “I love that Blue is able to wear her natural hair.”
However, fans of Beyoncé, Jay and Blue weren’t as quick to forgive the star for her comment. One Twitter user wrote: “As a human being w/ a brain, it’s also a bit worrying that @Karrueche would bully a 2-year-old Blue Ivy on @BET. You are not a puppet, right? (sic)”
Karrueche later attempted to defend herself, writing: “Now y’all know I LOVE me some Beyonce and Blue Ivy! I didn’t write this script y’all lol (sic)” She added: “I am definitely team #BeyHive (sic).”
