Kelly Rowland Breaks Her Silence About Her Viral Exchange at the Cannes Film Festival

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but photos of Kelly Rowland appearing to be in a heated exchange with security at the Cannes Film Festival this week didn’t tell us what we wanted to know—what was going on here? While attending the premiere Tuesday of Marcello Mio, Rowland seemed to confront an usher while being rushed up the stairs of the Palais des Festivals, and she is speaking out and shedding light on what happened in that tense moment.

Speaking with the Associated Press in a video shared to the wire service’s Instagram account, “the former Destiny’s Child member stood by her decision to call out the staffer for alleged mistreatment,” The Hollywood Reporter writes.

“The woman knows what happened, I know what happened,” Rowland said. “I have a boundary, and I stand by those boundaries, and that is it.”

Rowland also noted that 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.” Rowland then delved deeper into what happened in the AP clip, saying “I stood my ground, and she felt like she had to stand hers.”

In the exchange, an usher “kept touching the singer’s arm to rush her into the theater,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. “The artist, who was upset over the staffer crossing her physical boundaries, called out the woman’s behavior.” A lip reading expert told Page Six that Rowland appeared to say “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.” 

When the usher refused to back down, Rowland’s companions stepped in and defended her, but the usher continued to push the group up the Palais des Festivals staircase. “It’s not uncommon for red carpet security at Cannes to be strict,” The Hollywood Reporter writes. “With a tight schedule, they tend to rush attendees into the theater so films can start promptly, as there are multiple screenings per night.”

To assist in stopping guests from lingering outside before film screenings, in 2018, Cannes banned selfies on the red carpet, and those who violate the rule “often find their phones confiscated or security personnel covering their camera lenses,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.