Some of the Today hosts have come under fire in the past for interrupting and speaking over guests (yes, Jenna Bush Hager, we’re looking at you) or for interrogating their guests a little too harshly, among other things. And it looks like something similar may have happened again – this time during an interview with Savannah Guthrie and Kelly Rowland.
On the Thursday February 15th episode of the morning show, the former Destiny’s Child singer was talking with Guthrie about her steamy role in Tyler Perry’s new movie, Mea Culpa. Things seemed to be going swimmingly, until Guthrie turned attention away from the movie and started asking Rowland questions about her former Destiny’s Child bandmate, Beyoncé.
As well as offering short and blunt answers to the Beyoncé questions, Rowland seemed irritated at the end of the interview when Guthrie mentioned that she would be filling in for Jenna Bush Hager in the fourth hour as a guest host on Today with Hoda & Jenna. Instead of being excited about the guest hosting role, Rowland simply replied: “We’ll see.” She then walked off the set and temporarily left Kotb without a co-host, which then resulted in singer and The Voice coach Rita Ora filling in at the last moment!
Kelly Rowland Reportedly ‘Felt Disrespected’ By Savannah Guthrie’s Questions About Beyoncé On ‘Today’
Since the interview, there have been many theories about why Rowland seemed so upset and didn’t fulfil her guest hosting duties. Some sources say Kelly was simply unhappy with her dressing room (more on this later) while others think it was down to Guthrie’s “aggressive” questions about Beyoncé, which led Rowland to feel “disrespected.” Will we ever find out the truth?
An insider reportedly told The Wrap that Rowland left Today because she “felt disrespected” after Guthrie continued to “aggressively” ask her questions about the “Break My Soul” singer. One of the questions Guthrie asked was, “What do you think about your friend Beyoncé?” to which Rowland replied, “‘I’m so proud of her.” Guthrie then asked her what she thought about her venturing into country music, saying, “Were you surprised, and what do you think about it?” to which Rowland replied, “I’m so proud of her – so happy for her.”
"Kelly was offended that Savannah repeatedly and aggressively asked her about Beyoncé," the insider explained. "Kelly was upset about Savannah's aggressive questioning about Beyoncé. She and her team were not happy and felt disrespected," they added.
According to The Wrap, a source said that Rowland will not usually agree to an interview that involves questions about Beyoncé and Destiny's Child, as "she wants to leave that behind" and move forward in her career. The Wrap also reported that Today "does not typically agree to interview topics being off-limits ahead of time," which could be why there was some tension.
Was Kelly Rowland Really Upset About Her Dressing Room?
There are other reports that claim Rowland's issues were simply with the dressing rooms at Today – not Guthrie's questions about the "Single Ladies" singer. "Kelly and her team were not happy. They did not like the dressing room, so they decided to pull her off the show, leaving [Kotb] without a guest host for the 10 a.m. hour," an insider spilled to Page Six.
It doesn't seem like there are any hard feelings, as Kotb said she was "bummed" when Rowland walked out on Today and didn't guest host the show with her. She also touched on it on Tuesday's show, saying: "I just wanna say this, I have great love and admiration for Kelly Rowland. I adore her. And I want her to come back on our show, and I want her to host again. She can share my dressing room, we'll be in it together."
Guthrie also had nice things to say about Rowland, telling Page Six at a book party for her memoir Mostly What God Does on Wednesday, February 21st: "She was lovely. I had no idea, no inkling that anything was amiss. She was as sweet, and kind and professional as she ever was. I don't know what happened behind the scenes." She added: "We love her, and she's always welcomed back!"
Whether Kelly will be happy with the dressing rooms if she returns is another story, as we don't think they are likely to change any time soon. According to Page Six, Guthrie called the dressing rooms "historic," adding: "[They're] 70 plus years old, and we're happy to be there because it's kind of hallowed ground. We're honored to be there."
"We do our best and we kind of hope that what we lack in greenroom panache, we make up for in our warmth and gratitude when people come on the show," she added, before saying that she wouldn't say no if there was to be a "dressing room glow up at Studio 1A" in the near future.
At the time of writing, Rowland has yet to properly discuss her controversial Today exit, so we still don't know the real reason for her appearing so upset on screen and dropping out of her guest hosting duties at the last minute. During an interview with Chicago's WGN News on Wednesday, February 21st, when asked to embellish, she simply said: "No, because I'm so excited and delighted to be here to talk about the movie and nothing else," in reference to Mea Culpa. She did, however, add: "I love the Today show, love Hoda and that is it."
