Do you remember where you were when news broke that Solange Knowles, younger sister of Beyonce,
threw down with Jay-Z in an elevator at a swanky NYC hotel?
That was a holy day of tabloid drama, and it's taken a long time to finally understand
that infamous fight footage.
Check it out.
How it went down
Jay Z has 99 problems, and his sister-in-law might just be one of the biggest, or at least
she was that day.
According to TMZ, the elevator incident occurred following a Met Gala after-party in May 2014
at The Standard Hotel.
In the footage, you can clearly see Solange lunge at her brother-in-law and start kicking
and swinging with such fervor that you practically hear her scream, even though there was no
recorded audio.
A person who appears to be a bodyguard tries to hold her back, but she manages to get at
Jay at least three times.
She even smacks him with her purse, which spills all over the floor.
The bodyguard is the true unsung hero of the tiny elevator.
He can be seen slamming the emergency stop at what TMZ noted was the 12th floor in a
clear attempt to keep the fight under wraps.
Though Jay never swings at Solange, he does grab her foot mid-kick.
Beyonce, on the other hand, just stands there and watches it happen.
Afterward, they all exited the elevator and were snapped in a now-famous photo that shows
Solange clearly angry, Jay absolutely bewildered, and Bey quietly smirking.
It didn't take long for the incident to become a meme and for the hashtag #WhatJaySaidToSolange
to go viral.
Leaking the tape
Though it's probably no consolation to the Carters, The Standard reportedly did manage
to find the person responsible for leaking the tape to TMZ.
It was a staffer who was promptly fired.
Speculation suggested that it was either a security guard who monitored the cameras or
an employee who had access to where the monitors were held.
The hotel planned to hand over all available information to criminal authorities, though
it's not absolutely clear what crime, if any, was actually committed.
According to an analysis published by The Atlantic, the legality of the leak depends
on whether or not the hotel is considered a public space.
It is Common Law that you can record anything in public spaces provided you don't harass
anyone, but the leaking of the tape is where things get dicey.
Because the tape belongs to the hotel and not the employee who pawned it off to TMZ
for a reported $250,000, nabbing the footage could be considered petty larceny.
The employee was ultimately fired for breaching the hotel's security policies.
Provoking Solange
A number of sources, including Jay Z himself, have speculated that Solange was provoked.
That theory might have something to with designer Rachel Roy, who was rumored to be the "Becky
with the good hair" that Beyonce sang about.
Roy was previously married to Damon Dash, Jay-Z's former business partner, and according
to E! News, she may have been a little too flirty with the rapper at the after-party.
According to People Magazine, Solange had an encounter with the designer earlier in
the evening.
But another source claimed Solange and Roy barely interacted, and that Solange was supposedly
yelling at other partygoers.
Perhaps the truth has more to do with Jay's behavior than any number of potential Beckys.
People also speculated Jay-Z ignited the argument by saying something inappropriate to the Knowles
sisters.
This allegedly annoyed Solange enough that she blew up in the elevator.
The rapper all but confirmed this theory with the song "Kill Jay Z" off his 2017 album 4:44,
in which he rapped,
"You egged Solange on/Knowin' all along/All you had to say you was wrong"
Infidelity and other theories
Even though there are a number of bizarre conspiracy theories surrounding the fight,
it's largely believed that Jay-Z's infidelity was the spark that burned the whole thing
down.
Beyonce referenced cheating throughout her 2016 album Lemonade, and Jay Z hinted at the
same thing in 4:44.
But major tabloid dirt is fertilizer for unfounded conspiracy theories, so a number of other
ideas about what triggered the fight started cropping up all over the Internet almost as
soon as the footage leaked.
Feminist blog Jezebel contemplated, with no evidence whatsoever, that Solange started
swinging because Jay-Z insulted her as a mother.
Meanwhile, Vice considered that Jay might've spoiled Game of Thrones for her.
But given the pair's silence on the disappointing series finale, it seems now that they might
not even watch the show.
Gawker's Sam Biddle floated an interesting idea that the fight might have been a staged
prank courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel.
In reality, though, people famous enough to rent out the Louvre with just a month's notice
probably don't mess with talk show pranks.
Another more sinister theory by Jezebel claimed Solange was a, quote, "nasty drunk," though
she reportedly wasn't intoxicated at the time.
Reconciliation
It appears that blood, and legally binding marriages, really are thicker than water.
For the Carters, the salacious brawl is water under the bridge, or hot sauce in Beyonce's
bag.
Though the family left The Standard in separate cars in the heat of the moment, it didn't
take them long to work things out.
In a joint statement that was released ten days after the original footage leaked, the
Knowles-Carter clan claimed that Jay Z and Solange Knowles assumed, quote, "their share
of responsibility" and had apologized and moved forward.
Jay Z later opened up about his relationship with Solange in an episode of the Rap Radar
podcast.
He claimed the pair only had one disagreement and that they were cool with each other both
before and after the incident.
"That's my sister.
Not my, my sister-in-law, not my, no, my sister.
Period."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite stars are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.