This year’s Cannes Film Festival held many highly-anticipated movie premieres and saw celebrities flaunt their best outfits, but it also featured quite a lot of drama. So, what happened to Kelly Rowland?
Former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland was one of many stars who shone brightly on the red carpet. With impeccable style, Kelly wore absolutely stunning outfits, from her Anamika Khanna red gown to her Gaurav Gupta two-piece Neon Green top and skirt, but there was another incident that got her trending.
Why did Kelly Rowland go viral at Cannes?
When making her way up the famous stairs at the Palais des Festivals, dressed to the nines, Kelly Rowland got into a verbal dispute with the security staff from the festival. The singer was there for the premiere of the French film Marcello Mio, and she was ready to impress with her outfit and her styled blonde bob. However, it all led to a tense moment on the red carpet, with fans wondering what happened.
Some of the first claims were that the security guard stepped on Kelly Rowland’s dress, and apologized. However, there was some visible tension between them shortly after, with the singer seemingly saying, “Don’t talk to me like that.”
A couple of days later, Rowland addressed the incident, and seemed to allude the security guard might’ve made some racist comments.
“The woman knows what happened. I know what happened. I have a boundary, and I stand by those boundaries, and that is it. There were other women that attended that carpet who did not quite look like me, and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off. I stood my ground, and she felt like she had to stand hers, but I stood my ground.”
Rowland’s comments to the AP at the amfAR Cannes Gala
Kelly Rowland wasn’t the only one involved in a dispute with the security guard
Kelly Rowland’s tense moment went viral and people started theorizing what happened, but no one expected the drama to continue… with someone else. A few days after Rowland’s incident, Dominican actress Massiel Taveras went through the very same thing. On the same famous stairs, Taveras was also rushed by the same guard, and also YoonA, the South Korean K-pop idol. All of them were from different backgrounds but received the same treatment.
With people weighing in on the racism claims, a colleague of the security job told the Daily Mail that “she was only doing her job,” denying any wrongdoing.
“Suggestions of racism are just ridiculous – visitors, and indeed staff at Cannes come from all kinds of backgrounds, and none are discriminated against.”
Daily Mail
The Cannes Film Festival is famous for its rigid rules for posing on the famous stairs, just like many other similar events. The festivals include multiple screenings, premieres, and events with many celebrities, and they run on a tight schedule, where everything has to run smoothly. Usually, the actors in the newly released films get more time to pose on the stairs, while other celebrities have to move up quickly and not linger to avoid delaying others.
At the time of the visible confrontation, Kelly Rowland was attempting to pose for the photographers and wave at her fans. That might’ve led to a misunderstanding between the ushers and the singer, who wanted to make sure she paid attention to the fans and let photographers get the perfect shot of the iconic Cannes location. Luckily, she was able to shrug off the incident and enjoyed the rest of the festival, which concluded on May 25.