Beyonce, Kelly Rowland were 'sexually harassed as teenagers by Jagged Edge bandmembers,' Mathew Knowles claims
Beyonce Knowles and her Destiny's Child bandmate Kelly Rowland were sexually harassed as teenagers by some members of the Atlanta-based R&B group Jagged Edge, according to the 'Lemonade' singer's father Mathew Knowles.
Knowles, who managed the band then, while talking to Vlad TV on Tuesday claimed that two members of Jagged Edge behaved inappropriately with the women when they were 16. The incident reportedly occurred when Jagged Edge and Destiny's Child were touring together and were on the same bus in the late nineties.
The 67-year-old, who appeared on the show to promote his book 'Destiny's Child: The Untold Story,' said: "Now, remember the girls are minors: They're 16-years-old, the guys are 21- and 22-years-old."
"I got a call from Kelly and Beyoncé ... saying that they were constantly being harassed by two of the members in Jagged Edge," Knowles said. "I couldn't have that. I literally had to put the guys off the bus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana."
Beyonce's father added that he had to act swiftly at the moment with business and law in mind. "I have a fiduciary duty with minors, by the law, there's a certain way I have to manage that." When he was asked how he processed the news as a father, Knowles said: "We won't talk about that on camera." He, however, did not mention which particular Jagged Edge members were involved.
Knowles also said that the incident "began all of this drama" involving one-time Destiny's Child members LaTavia Roberson and LaToya Luckett getting new representatives. The members eventually left the group in 2000.
"An attorney called me out-of-the-blue to tell me that I would be getting a certified letter... to tell me that, at this point, that he was now on an interim basis managing LaTavia and LaToya," the music manager continued. "And that they would finally go and search for a final manager, but for now he was the interim manager."
Knowles added that he had told the attorney at the time that Roberson and Luckett were responsible for nearly five percent of the vocals, while Beyonce and Rowland contributed the remaining 95 percent, which eventually led to the former members' exit from the band.