Kelly Rowland has spoken out about her row with a security staffer at the Cannes Film Festival and hinted that she thinks it was a racial incident.
The 43-year-old singer was seen on Tuesday having sharp words with a female security guard on the steps outside the venue premiering the French film Marcello Mio.
Rowland, in a long, flowing, red dress was seen putting her finger up towards the security guard who was trying to urge Rowland to keep walking. No audio of the encounter was made by anyone, but video and still photos show that Rowland was not happy at all with what the guard either said or did.
Now, Rowland has hinted that the security personnel were treating her differently because she didn’t “look like” the others on the red carpet.
“The woman knows what happened. I know what happened,’ she said. ‘And, I have a boundary. And I stand by those boundaries and that is it.,” Rowland said, according to the Daily Mail.
“There were other women who attended that carpet, who did not quite look like me, and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off,” the singer added.
The Mail reports that a lip reader insisted that the guard had at first apologized for stepping on Rowlands long dress train, and Rowland replied It’s OK.” But then something else was said that set Rowland off, spurring the singer to say, “Don’t talk to me like that.”
One insider told the paper that security staffers were very insistent that the celebrities keep moving so as not to hold up the line of celebrities walking into the theater and Rowland did not appreciate being told to move faster.
“The people who are assigned to helping stars walk the red carpet were being aggressive and Kelly was trying to ignore it,” the insider said. And eventually Rowland just got fed up with the staffers’ aggressive behavior.
The former Desinty’s Child band member defiantly insisted that she has “a boundary” and that she “stood her ground” in the confrontation with the guard.
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Rowland has been outspoken before. In 2020 she slammed people for trying to “cancel” others over their opinions, telling them to “stop tryin’ to be God.”
“In this ‘cancel culture’ we live in, I am SO grateful God NEVER canceled me, And I’m sure he could’ve many-a-times!” the R&B singer wrote in an Instagram post.
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