Tina Knowles-Lawson is mother to not only Grammy Award-winning daughters Solange and Beyoncé, but she is also mother-in-law- to revered rapper Jay-Z, whom the former fashion designer often has spoken highly of and defended against public criticism.
Over the last few weeks, the entrepreneur has been out promoting the new docuseries “Profiled: The Black Man,” a four-part series that examines the origins of the widespread stereotypes that have permeated society and impacted the lives of Black men in America for centuries, the description read.
The 68-year-old, who also serves as an executive producer on the show, shared her own experience and recalled a time when a white woman catechized her for approving of Beyoncé’s marriage to the Brooklyn emcee.
“I can remember getting on a plane, and an older white woman saying, ‘Oh, your son is a gangster rapper, right? How did you let him marry your daughter?’ ” Knowles-Lawson recalled in a clip played during her interview with Gayle King on “CBS Mornings” on Thursday, Feb. 10.
“It was just shocking to me, and I said, ‘No, actually, my son is a CEO,’ ” the mama bear recounted. “She didn’t think of him as a CEO or even a talented celebrity that was a great businessman. At that time, I remember thinking, ‘I can’t be mad at her because that is what the media portrays.’ “
The Hollywood power couple married in 2008. They share three children, 10-year-old Blue Ivy, and 4-year-old twins, Rumi and Sir.
Appearing via a video call shortly after the clip was played, Knowles-Lawson further elaborated on that sad moment. “I sat there, and I thought about how the media portrays Black men and how that is typical of the things that they would focus on, the negatives,” she said.
“[They] try to portray us as these dangerous, our men as dangerous, uneducated. Gangster rapper, that’s all she could come up with, but that’s what she had been seeing on TV and all in the media,” she added. “That’s how we’re portrayed, unfortunately.”
“Profiled: The Black Man,” presented by Discovery+ and OWN Network, and hosted by rapper and actor Tristan “Mack” Wilds, aims “absolutely to debunk those stereotypes that our men are dangerous.”
Knowles-Lawson said that with the show, which is set to premiere Feb. 12, “I pray that everybody will open their minds and open their hearts and that everyone will get together and see each other as people, not by the color of their skin.”
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