Beyonce’s father, Mathew Knowles, has defended his daughter’s Dubai concert following a backlash from the LGBTQ+ community.
The ‘Cuff It’ singer made her grand return to the stage after five years, at the invitation-only launch of the new Atlantis The Royal hotel in Dubai, which allegedly saw the superstar earn $280 000 (R4.8 million) a minute.
The UAE has strict laws against homosexuality but the record executive insists the 41-year-old Grammy winner has “always stood for inclusiveness” and would “never do something to deliberately hurt someone”.
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The businessman told TMZ the “Crazy in Love” hitmaker “united a really diverse crowd with her incredible performance overseas, bringing people closer, as she does best”.
He added that Beyoncé “gave respect and got respect back from the country”.
Knowles also told the outlet the singer is planning a “Renaissance” world tour.
The “Love On Top” hitmaker didn’t feature any songs from her latest album in the setlist, but she did perform hits including “Beautiful Liar”, “Halo”, “Crazy In Love” and “Drunk In Love”.
During the show, Beyoncé treated the select audience to a special moment as she brought her 11-year-old daughter Blue Ivy out on stage to sing a duet with her.
The pair teamed up to perform “Brown Skin Girl”, with Beyoncé telling the audience: “Where are all my brown skin girls? Give it up for my baby, my brown skin girl, Miss Blue Ivy Carter.”
The youngster wore a sparkly red suit with trainers and her mum affectionately touched her face as they sang together, with the singer telling the crowd: “Love to all the brown skin girls. If you love brown skin women, help me sing.”
Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z and their three children, also including five-year-old twins Rumi and Sir, as well as her parents Tina Knowles-Lawson and Mathew were all in the audience for the exclusive event while famous faces who landed an invite included Kendall Jenner, Rebel Wilson, Ellen Pompeo, Liam Payne and Bar Refaeli.
