Kelly Rowland has spoken out about the red carpet security guard incident at Cannes Film Festival

This week has seen the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, with the 77th annual cinematic festival celebrating the upcoming year in film. 

From the show-stopping red carpet looks to the multiple standing ovations (from Selena Gomez to Kevin Costner), this year’s film festival has been one for the ages, surrounded with positive press. 

It was a tense incident that made the Cannes Film Festival headlines today however, as footage seemingly showed singer Kelly Rowland involved in a verbal altercation on the red carpet with a member of the Cannes Film Festival security team. 

The incident took place at the premiere of Christophe Honoré’s new film, Marcello Mio, with the former Destiny’s Child singer walking the red carpet ahead of attending the screening.

In the now viral footage, Rowland, 43, can be seen trying to pose for photographs when a female security guard tries to rush her off the red carpet, guiding her away from the cameras with a hand on her back. 

The security guard then appears to accidentally stand on the singer’s dress, before the two have stern words, with other event staff appearing to get involved.

Rowland has since spoken out about the viral confrontation, reporting that she was treated differently from others on the red carpet who didn’t look like her. 

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

She continued: “I stood my ground, and she felt like she had to stand hers, but I stood my ground.”

The Cannes Film Festival will draw to a close this year on Saturday 25 May 2024.

We will continue to update this story.