Kelly Rowland allegedly left Today after “aggressive questioning”: report

We now have another potential cause behind Kelly Rowland’s sudden exit from the US Today show.

Rowland, who was set to co-host alongside Hoda Kotb, abruptly cancelled, leaving Rita Ora to sub in for her “five minutes before [they] went on the air,” as Ora and Kotb noted during the February 15 broadcast.

While sources told Page Six that Rowland left due to dressing room concerns, a new report from TheWrap claims otherwise.

A source told the publication that Rowland was “offended that Savannah [Guthrie] repeatedly and aggressively asked her about Beyoncé,” whom she previously performed with as members of Destiny’s Child.

“The story was spun that Kelly didn’t like her dressing room, but she has been on the Today show numerous times, she and her team know the dressing room set up. That would not come as a surprise at all,” the source added. “Kelly was upset about Savannah’s aggressive questioning about Beyoncé. She and her team were not happy and felt disrespected.”
 

Although Rowland was promoting her film Mea Culpa, which hits Netflix tomorrow, Guthrie asked Rowland in a February 15 interview to weigh in on “[her] friend Beyoncé,” who recently announced an upcoming country album.

Rowland told Guthrie that she’s “so proud of her,” to which Guthrie replied, “I know, but were you surprised? And what do you think about it?”

Rowland reiterated, “I’m so proud of her. So happy for her.”

The source told TheWrap that Rowland will not participate in interviews in which she’s asked about Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child, explaining that “she wants to leave that behind,” but as the publication notes, “Today does not typically agree to interview topics being off-limits ahead of time.”
 

When she was asked about Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child during a recent interview on the radio show The Big Tigger Morning Show with Jazzy McBee, Rowland urged the anchors to remain on the topic of Mea Culpa, which is what she was there to discuss, per Deadline.

Decider reached out to Rowland’s publicist for comment, but did not hear back by time of publication. Following the influx of headlines about her Today exit, Yvette Noel-Schure, Rowland’s representative, told Entertainment Tonight, “After 28 years of knowing her, Kelly Rowland remains one of the kindest, most amiable humans I have ever met and have had the blessing to represent.”

The mishap still appears to be up for debate, as a separate source told TheWrap that Rowland’s exit from the show was, in fact, due to the dressing rooms not being up to snuff.

TMZ sources also rejected the claims made in TheWrap about Rowland being offended by Guthrie’s questions. They claimed that Rowland, as well as her team, were “quite upset” with the dressing room situation, which Today staffers had even reportedly referred to as “dumpy, glorified closets,” per TMZ.

Kotb seemingly addressed the dressing room claims on Tuesday’s (February 20) show, telling viewers that she has “great love and admiration for Kelly Rowland,” and that next time “she can share [her] dressing room.”

“We’ll be in it together,” she added.

Nonetheless, it seems as though there’s only love between the two Destiny’s Child alum, as Beyoncé attended the premiere of Mea Culpa in New York last week and shared some pictures on Instagram in support of her “best friend.”

This article originally appeared in Decider and was reproduced with permission.