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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Dominique Hines

Kelly Rowland appears to allege racial profiling was behind viral Cannes bust-up with security guard

Kelly Rowland has spoken out after her viral bust-up with a seemingly overzealous security guard on the red carpet in Cannes

Rowland, 43, attended the premiere of the French film Marcello Mio last week when she got into a verbal altercation with a member of the event's security.

The singer has broken her silence and claimed that she was singled out by the guard and was just standing her ground. 

"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. 

"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."

Rowland in a heated exchange at the screening of the film

As the singer hit the red carpet and waved to the screaming fans on the sidelines on Tuesday, the female security guard appeared to make a beeline for her - rushing her into the screening. 

At first Rowland appeared to take things in her stride and gesture to the woman that she was moving along. However, it appeared to not be swift enough for the woman's liking and she continued to confront the Destiny's Child star.

The female guard held up her arm to lead her into the venue up the steps and a then frustrated Rowland pointed her finger at her in admonishment in front of the crowd. 

Lip-reading expert Jacqui Press told MailOnline that after the security guard appeared to step on Rowland's dress, she apologised and the star said: "It's OK."

Rowland admonished the security guard as crowds looked on (Pool Photo Events 03/ipa-agency.)

However, when the guard said something else, it caused Rowland to snap and respond: "Don't talk to me like that."

As the security guard continued to follow her up the stairs, she turned around and repeated the phrase.

It's been reported that staff members at the French festival were “being aggressive”. A source told DailyMail.com: “The people who are assigned to helping stars walk the red carpet were being aggressive and Kelly was trying to ignore it.”

“By the time she got to the last woman she had, had it because she scolded Kelly and told her to move when she was trying to wave to fans and help the paparazzi get their shot.”

They added: “She doesn’t care if she comes across like a diva if she knows that she is advocating for herself. She isn’t fake and wanted to set a clear boundary.”

Rowland’s red carpet appearance two days after the bust-up was incident-free (Doug Peters/PA Wire)

The Standard has contacted Cannes Festival for comment.

Back in February the star walked out of an appearance on the Today show leaving the Breakfast Show scrambling for a guest to replace her.

It was claimed  she left because she was denied a suitable dressing room, forcing Rita Ora to step in and co-host alongside Hoda Kotb at the last minute.

The Today Show studios are notorious for their dingy and rundown dressing rooms, which are said to be in serious need of renovation. 

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