Method Man is squashing a decades-old beef.
The singer-turned actor spoke on the “My Expert Opinion” podcast about an awkward moment he had with former girl group Destiny’s Child.
He first met the group when it consisted of its original four-person line-up of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson.
“This is when it was still four of them, the original members,” he recalled. “Very nice, very cordial and all that. I always kept that in in my head, like these are some decent young ladies and s—.”
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His next encounter with the group, however, told a different story.
He attended the 2004 MOBO Awards to support Janet Jackson, who was receiving the Icon award at the show. He ran into the girl group whose lineup now consisted of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Remembering their friendly introduction, he decided to say hi to them.
“I remember I had just come off stage and where we were sitting, there were nothing but VIPs. We had *NSYNC up here, Destiny’s Child right there, Tommy Lee was over here,” he explained. “And I see the girls, so I kinda moseyed out of my seat to go over and say what’s up to them.”
The rapper continued, “Now, this is still me in my low self-esteem era. But I’m thinking like, comfort zone here, I’m gonna say what’s up to the girls. I love them, I’m just gonna say hi. I go over to say hi to them and when I said hi, they didn’t even turn around and acknowledge me.”
At the time, he was convinced it was an insult, but upon reflection later, he realized it was a miscommunication.
“Now, my a–, in my head, with my low self-esteem is like, ‘They just s—-ed on me.’ When in fact, they didn’t even hear me,” said Method Man. “It was so loud in that motherf—er. That’s the excuse that I’m giving right now—they didn’t even f—ing hear me.”
As a young artist, he remembered the slight, however, and returned the favour the next time they met.
“Afterward, [producer] Rockwilder, he was gonna do the ‘Bootylicious’ song for them,” he said. “He comes over, he’s talking to them, he’s like, ‘Oh, you know [Redman of Wu-Tang Clan] and Meth?’ And they put their hands out to shake, and I kept my hand here and was like, ‘Go ‘head with that Hollywood s—.'”
Now, in hindsight, he believes it was all a misunderstanding that stemmed from his low self-esteem at the time.
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“But me being so miserable and in that f—ing moment, I felt like they wasn’t treating me the way I should have been treated. Who am I to think that about these girls?” said Method Man. “They’re here to promote themselves and break records and things of that nature. And it was not about me, it was about Janet f—ing Jackson.”
He added, “And to this day, man, I don’t think I’ve ever apologized for that. I apologize to Beyoncé, I apologize to Kelly Rowland and Michelle — y’all did not deserve that, at all.”
While none of the women have responded to the public apology yet, Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles acknowledged his words on Instagram.
“Thankyou Method Man . It takes a real man to tell this story!” she wrote. :Such a great example for other young men❤️. . Don’t assume someone is dissing you ! @methodmanofficial”
