Tina Knowles-Lawson explains how she defended Jay-Z when a white woman asked why Beyoncé would marry a 'gangster rapper'

• Tina Knowles-Lawson recently spoke to Insider about her new series "Profiled: The Black Man."
• She recalled an encounter with a white woman, who called her son-in-law Jay-Z a "gangster rapper."

Tina Knowles-Lawson may be the matriarch of the most powerful family in music, but she has still seen the dangers of racism first-hand.

During an interview with Insider last week, the fashion designer and philanthropist opened up about a disturbing interaction with an "older white woman," which she recounted in the first episode of her new series, "Profiled: The Black Man."

Knowles-Lawson said the woman asked her, "Oh, your son is a gangster rapper, right? How did you let him marry your daughter?"

Of course, the rapper in question is Jay-Z, one of the best-selling and most influential hip-hop artists in history. He is married to Beyoncé, one of Knowles-Lawson's two famous daughters, with whom he shares three children.

Knowles-Lawson clarified to Insider that this encounter happened "years ago," when her son-in-law was in charge of Def Jam Recordings.

Jay-Z was appointed president and CEO of the label in 2004, the same year he made his red-carpet debut with Beyoncé. The couple got married in 2008.

"She was either a good actress or she just was so ignorant to how things were that she could say something like that to me, but I didn't get the feeling that it came with any malice," Knowles-Lawson explained to Insider. "She was literally in her twisted thinking — thinking that was a compliment in some way."

"And I just immediately said to her, 'No, my son-in-law is actually a CEO and he's a brilliant businessman, he's a good person, he helps people,'" she continued. "I just ran it down to her. And she was so incredibly shocked. And she apologized. She said, 'I'm sorry. I just hear that term.' And I said, 'Yeah, you just automatically put it on my son-in-law.'"

Knowles-Lawson said she made a point to "educate" the woman because she felt the media's portrayals of Jay-Z were to blame.

"It was hurtful, but I took it with a grain of salt because that was just her ignorance," she said. "Hopefully I educated her that day and she could move on from that thinking."

She also said that witnessing this kind of "ignorance" was part of her motivation to "debunk those stereotypes" on a larger scale.

Knowles-Lawson is the executive producer of "Profiled: The Black Man," which premiered Saturday.

The four-part docuseries aims to break down harmful biases against Black men. The first episode, titled "Black Men Are Dangerous," features interviews with an array of Black educators, activists, music journalists, and public figures, including "Pose" actor Billy Porter, rapper Papoose, and radio personality Sway Calloway.

Co-executive producer Trell Thomas said he hoped to create an "inclusive" vision of Black men with a wide-ranging list of contributors.

"We are not a monolith. We come in all shapes, sizes, mindsets, all the things. So we were very intentional when we picked people like Billy Porter and Papoose, because of his beautiful relationship with his wife, and Sway, who could speak specifically to the media and its effects and what he'd seen," he told Insider.

"We also wanted to give hope, and we wanted to show everyday Black men who are defying the stereotypes that often get placed on them unfairly," he added. "We don't see this docuseries as a solution, right? It's not like you go there and you have the answer. But we hope that it starts the conversation."

The second episode of "Profiled: The Black Man" will air on Saturday, February 19 on Discovery+ and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.