Would Beyoncé still be as huge of a star if her skin were darker? Mathew Knowles doesn’t think so, but a history-making Utah congresswoman disagrees.
“Well, I think Beyoncé is talented enough that she would have made her print on the world anyway,” Rep. Mia Love, Utah’s first Black congresswoman, tells TMZ Monday, Feb. 5. “I think she’s just [so] talented that the world would watch. It’s more than just about her color.”
Knowles made headlines for his take on how colorism has affected his dating life (he initially thought ex-wife Tina Lawson was white) and he thinks it’s also affected the singers who achieve mainstream success.
“When it comes to Black females, who are the people who get their music played on pop radio?” he asked in a Friday, Feb. 2 Ebony magazine profile. “Mariah Carey, Rihanna, the female rapper Nicki Minaj, my kids, and what do they all have in common?”
When the interviewer acknowledged the performers’ lighter skin, Knowles responded, “Do you think that’s an accident?”
“Of course not,” the reporter said.
“So you get it!”
Still, Love thinks enough progress has been made in the music industry so that a dark-skinned Beyoncé could thrive.
“I think that there are some really talented people out there that are doing their thing,” she says. “We need to continue to break the glass ceilings and allow people from all walks of life, all beliefs to do their thing and leave their imprint on the world.”
