Matthew Knowles, father and former manager of Beyonce, recently revealed his theory that the divorce rumors of the singer and her rapper husband Jay Z were “a Jedi mind trick.” Knowles claims that the rumors were orchestrated to drive sales up for the couple’s joint On The Run world tour.

As a guest on The Roula & Ryan Show on 104.1 KRBE in Houston, Knowles was asked by host Roula Christie how to deal in public relations with controversies such as the elevator incident between Solange Knowles and Jay Z or the divorce rumors surrounding his daughter and her husband. The elder Knowles replied, “I know—because we’ve done this, from experience—there’s a tour going on. So you have to sometimes ignite that tour. It’s called a Jedi mind trick. And the Jedi mind trick fools you a lot of times.”

We were all duped by the ‘Jedi mind trick’, appaz. http://t.co/zgkAXaZnX7 pic.twitter.com/Bkms90MKDa

— Yahoo Celebrity UK (@YahooCelebUK) August 28, 2014

One of the hosts then asked Knowles if it could be true that Beyonce, her sister and Jay Z staged and leaked the video of their fight in the elevator at an after-party of the Met Ball in New York. “All I know is the Jedi mind trick. Everybody’s talking about it. Ticket sales went up. Solange’s album sales went up 200 percent,” Knowles replied.

TMZ reported that Knowles had also tried to spark rumors about a Destiny’s Child reunion during the interview, since he claimed to still be their manager. However, he has not managed Beyonce’s career for years, although he said that he and his daughter talk every Sunday. “She’s still the humble, generous person that she’s always been,” he said.

Knowles’ interview happened days after Beyonce performed at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 24, where she was presented with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award by her husband Jay Z. He was carrying their daughter, Blue Ivy, when he joined Beyonce onstage and called her the “greatest living entertainer”. Beyonce kissed both Jay Z and Blue Ivy and called her husband “my beloved” in her acceptance speech.