Kelly Rowland is sharing her side of the story about her confrontation with an usher on the red carpet for the Cannes premiere of the film “Marcello Mio” on Tuesday that was widely shared on social media. “I stood my ground,” she told the Associated Press.
As seen in video of the encounter, on Tuesday while Rowland was walking on the red carpet and posing for photos, a female security staff member kept touching her arm in an apparent attempt to speed her into the theater. The singer became visibly upset as the staffer continued to try moving her along, at once point accidentally stepping on Rowland’s dress. Rowland could also be seen speaking heatedly to the security staffer and pointing at them before walking into the theater.
“The woman knows what happened, I know what happened, and I have a boundary,” the former Destiny’s Child member told the Associated Press. “I stand by those boundaries, and that is it.”
Rowland also said she believes race played a role. “There were other women that attended that carpet who did not quite look like me,” she said. “They didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off. And I stood my ground and she felt like she needed to stand hers.”
Lipreading expert Jeremy Freeman broke down the tense moment between Rowland and the usher on the Tuesday night Cannes carpet for PageSix.
“Don’t talk to me like that. Don’t talk to me like that. You’re not my mother. I told you not to talk to me like that.”
With the security person’s back facing the camera it’s unclear what she said – along with physically ushering Rowland along – during the exchange.
This isn’t the first time Rowland has made headlines for a dust-up this year. Back in February, the singer walked off “Today” for too many questions about Beyoncé. It was originally stated she left because of a dressing room dispute.
“The story was spun that Kelly didn’t like her dressing room, but she has been on the ‘Today’ show numerous times, she and her team know the dressing room set up. That would not come as a surprise at all,” an individual with knowledge of the situation at the time told TheWrap. “Kelly was upset about Savannah’s aggressive questioning about Beyoncé. She and her team were not happy and felt disrespected.”
