After Clashes With Security Guard At Cannes Film Festival, Singer Kelly Rowland Says That Race Was A Factor In Incident

Singer Kelly Rowland was seen reprimanding a security guard at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, which lasted from May 14 to May 25.

As the actress made her way up a set of stairs in a red dress and a diamond necklace, a female security guard held her right arm up behind Rowland, letting it hover near Rowland’s left shoulder. She seemed to be gesturing Rowland away from this crowd. In response, Rowland pointed her index finger at the security guard, scolding her for the gesture. Fans speculated that the actress was frustrated because her time with the paparazzi was cut short by the security guard.

Days after the incident, Rowland addressed the rumors. 

“There were other women that attended that carpet that did not quite look like me. They didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off,” Rowland said in a statement, suggesting that racism was a factor in the incident.

At the same festival, Dominican model Massiel Taveras experienced a similar interaction with the same security guard. As she walked the red carpet in a dress adorned with a long white train featuring an image of Jesus, the security guard made the same gesture to Taveras as she did to Rowland, positioning her arm behind Taveras in an attempt to guide her away from the photographers. Taveras confronted the security guard immediately by shoving her.

The model addressed the incident in an Instagram post: “Let’s show some love and respect to the extraordinary @kellyrowland, a pure soul, a talented, classy, educated woman of color that represents with respect all of US🤎🙌 I’m impressed how you handled sister, I didn’t now that happened to you first I was very impressed how calm and genteel you wr because in my case I was tired of the abuse,” she said.

This incident is not the first time Rowland reported having a public dispute. In February, she walked off the set of the Today Show because she was allegedly dissatisfied with the quality of her dressing rooms.