The plot thickens! Earlier this week, TMZ uncovered legal documents that say Live Nation alerted Beyoncé that her father — and manager, until March of this year — Matthew Knowles had been stealing from her. Knowles, however, alleges that Live Nation was lying for their own gain — and that defense doesn’t sound quite as desperate as you’d think.
Knowles claims Live Nation executive Faisel Duranni is now serving as Beyoncé’s manager; Live Nation sources deny Duranni holds the official title “manager” but do not deny that he’s involved in handling aspects of Beyoncé’s career. (For what it’s worth, Duranni was one of the key operators in Jay-Z’s Live Nation deal.) Matthew specifically claims Live Nation’s end goal was to get rights to a Beyoncé world tour, which he claims they have now done. Lastly, Knowles’s legal documents point out that Live Nation recently made a $4 million payment to Beyoncé for unspecified reasons.
There are obvious counters to all of Knowles’s claims: Wouldn’t Live Nation be involved in a massive Beyoncé world tour anyway? And couldn’t the $4 million be for past shows that Live Nation has produced for Beyoncé? Then again, Live Nation obviously has much to gain by removing Matthew Knowles as the middle man in their dealings with his daughter; if Live Nation’s Duranni has in fact replaced Matthew Knowles as Beyoncé’s primary manager — well, that does seem kind of shady. Would it hold up in court?
Legal Documents Relating to Beyonce, Mathew Knowles May Shed Light on Singer’s New Management, Touring Deals [Billboard.biz]
