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The infamous elevator fight between Jay-Z and Solange Knowles, the younger sister of his wife Beyoncé, is back in the spotlight again as a fashion designer exposed the reason for the highly-publicized clash.
In May 2014, a surveillance video leaked from the Standard Hotel in New York in which Solange was seen physically attacking Jay-Z in an elevator with Beyoncé standing beside them. The video was published by TMZ and numerous rumors swirled about why Solange had violently confronted her brother-in-law after the trio attended the 2014 Met Gala.
During a new interview with the Daily Mail, Oscar G. Lopez claimed that Solange became enraged after witnessing an interaction between Jay-Z and fashion designer Rachel Roy, who has been accused of having an affair with the rapper. Lopez, who created Roy’s 2014 Met Gala gown, said that Solange was offended after Jay-Z praised the dress.
BEYONCÉ SEEMINGLY REFERENCES ELEVATOR INCIDENT WITH JAY-Z, SOLANGE IN NEW ALBUM ‘RENAISSANCE’
“I think that Jay complimented her about the gown and Beyoncé’s sister felt that it was not proper, so it was a kind of a drama there,” Lopez said.
In the video, which did not have audio, Solange was seen kicking and punching Jay-Z as a bodyguard attempted to restrain her. Jay-Z was not seen retaliating against Solange but instead raised his arms to block her blows and backed away from her into the wall of the elevator.
Meanwhile, Beyonce stood still in the corner of the elevator and did not intervene.
Within hours of the video’s release, the incident made international headlines and dominated social media.
Lopez told the Daily Mail that the widespread coverage of the incident helped boost his business. He explained that Roy was “late” to the event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and missed being photographed on the red carpet in the gown that he made for her.
However, Lopez recalled that “the dress was all over the news” following the scandal.
“Any press is good press,” he said. “It’s good that people talk about you.”
“Sometimes you benefit from a scandal, not even being part of it in a very direct way,” Lopez continued. “Let’s just call it a collateral damage. It was meant to be.”
He went to tell the Daily Mail that he and Roy laughed about the speculation that she was having an affair with Jay-Z. Lopez said that they thought the rumors were “so silly” due to Roy’s previous marriage to Jay Z’s former friend and Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash.
Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives for Jay-Z, Beyonce, Solange and Roy for comment.
Roy and Dash were married from 2004 to 2009. The two met while she was working at Rocawear, the clothing brand created by Jay-Z and Dash. Roy began her career as an intern at the company before rising through the ranks to become Creative Director for Rocawear women’s line.
Immediately after the elevator incident on May 5, 2014, Beyoncé and Solange left the hotel together in one vehicle while Jay-Z departed separately. A week later, TMZ published the surveillance video and the Standard Hotel announced that they had launched an investigation into the leak.
On May 14, the hotel confirmed that an employee had been fired for leaking the video.
A day later, Jay-Z, Beyonce and Solange broke their silence in a joint statement to the Associated Press.
“There has been a great deal of speculation about what triggered the unfortunate incident,” the But the most important thing is that our family has worked through it,” they wrote. “Jay and Solange each assume their share of responsibility for what has occurred. They both acknowledge their role in this private matter that has played out in the public. They both have apologized to each other and we have moved forward as a united family.”
“The reports of Solange being intoxicated or displaying erratic behavior throughout that evening are simply false,” the statement continued. “At the end of the day families have problems and we’re no different. We love each other and above all we are family. We’ve put this behind us and hope everyone else will do the same.”
In 2017, Jay-Z addressed the incident with Solange during an appearance on the “Rap Radar” podcast.
“We had one disagreement ever. Before and after we’ve been cool,” he said. “She’s like my sister. I will protect her. That’s my sister, not my sister-in-law. My sister. Period.”
The “Empire State of Mind” singer noted that siblings fight.
“I fought my brothers and argued with my brothers my whole life,” Jay Z said. “It just so happens, who we are, these things go into a different space. But it ain’t nothing.”
“We’ve always had a great relationship,” he said.
Meanwhile, Roy poured fuel on the speculation of an affair between herself and Jay-Z after Beyonce alluded that the rapper had been unfaithful in her album “Lemonade,” which was released in April 2016.
The album featured the song “Sorry” which included the lyrics, “He only want me when I’m not there. He better call Becky with the good hair.’’
Roy later posted a photo of herself on Instagram, writing, “Good hair don’t care, but we will take good lighting, for selfies, or self truths, always. Live in the light #nodramaqueens.”
After an outpouring of online backlash from Beyonce’s fans, Roy deleted the post and made her Instagram account private.
She later wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “I respect love, marriages, families and strength. What shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone, no matter what, is bullying, of any kind.”
Roy directly denied that she was the woman behind the infamous lyric in an interview with People magazine.
“I want to put the speculation and rumors to rest. My Instagram post was meant to be fun and lighthearted, it was misunderstood as something other than that,” Roy told People. “There is no validity to the idea that the song references me personally. There is no truth to the rumors.”
In his 2017 album “4:44,” Jay Z admitted to cheating on Beyoncé and expressed his remorse. He also referenced his alleged mistress “Becky” in his song “Family Feud,” which featured the lyrics, “Let me alone Becky.”
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On the same album, he also referred to the elevator incident in his song “Kill JAY-Z.”
“You egged Solange on/ Knowin’ all along, all you had to say you was wrong,” Jay-Z sings to himself at one point in the song.
In an interview with David Letterman in 2018 for his Netflix show, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,” Jay-Z explained how he and Beyoncé had overcome their marital issues including his infidelity.
“I have a beautiful wife who is understanding and knew that I’m not the worst of what I’ve done,” he said. “And like we did the hard work of going to therapy and, you know, really – we love each other, right? So we really put in the work.”
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