Beyonce’s Father Says Her Music Career Was Boosted By Having ‘Lighter Skin’

Beyonce’s father Matthew Knowles has spoken about race in the music industry and suggested his famous daughter may not have enjoyed the same success she has now, if she had darker skin.

The former Destiny’s Child manager gave an interview with Ebony to discuss his book Racism: From the Eyes of a Child where he admitted that when he was younger, deeply ingrained colourism led him to only date white or light-skinned black women who appeared to be white.

“I had been conditioned from childhood,” he said. “With eroticised rage, there was actual rage in me as a black man, and I saw the white female as a way, subconsciously, of getting even or getting back. There are a lot of black men of my era that are not aware of this thing.”

He said he was sharing his personal experiences in the hope it would raise awareness of colourism, which he implied is common in the music industry.

“When it comes to black females, who are the people who get their music played on pop radio?” he asked. “Mariah Carey, Rihanna, the female rapper Nicki Minaj, my kids [Beyonce and Solange], and what do they all have in common?”