Beyonce Opens Up About Cuba Trip
Beyonce Knowles, the 31-year-old singer who celebrated her fifth wedding anniversary with husband and rap mogul Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, is opening up about the trip.
"You know, it was such a beautiful trip. I met some incredible children," Knowles told ABC's Amy Robach Monday. "I visited some incredible entrepreneurs. And it was really, it was really educational for me."
The entertainer said she was shocked to learn so much about the country that is currently under a U.S. embargo.
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"I learned so much about so many people and the country, and it was actually quite shocking," Knowles told Robach.
Knowles and Jay-Z, the singer and rapper respectively, reportedly took an interest in visiting Cuba after attending the release of the film "JR & José Parlá: The Wrinkles of the City, Havana, Cuba," at Miami's Art Basel, according to blogger Necole Kane. The film and accompanying book highlights murals in Havana that reportedly caught Knowles and Jay-Z's interest.
While the famed pair were greeted by fans during their trip to Cuba, U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart asked Adam Szubin, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, for more information about the couple's trip, according to Reuters reports. The two Republican members of Congress specifically asked the U.S. Treasury Department for "information regarding the type of license that Beyoncé and Jay-Z received, for what purpose, and who approved such travel."
After claims that Jay-Z and Knowles' lack of clearance to enter Cuba on April 4 could lead to a fine and jail time, the rapper released his "Open Letter" track produced by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.
"Boy from the hood but got White House clearance," the rapper born Shawn Carter rhymed on "Open Letter." "Obama said chill, you gonna get me impeached / You don't need this (expletive) anyway, chill with me on the beach."
The song caused just as much controversy as the couple's trip and even prompted the White House to respond.
"I guess nothing rhymes with treasury. I am absolutely saying that the White House, from the President on down, had nothing to do with anybody's travel to Cuba," Jay Carney, the White House press secretary said at a news conference. "That is something the treasury handles. OFAC, Treasury, these are tough words to rhyme."
