Well we didn’t see this coming. Kelly Rowland is apparently fed ALL the way up with subpar treatment on sets, and she’s willing to walk out of major gigs over it.
Page Six reports that the Mea Culpa star was set to join “The Today Show” hosts as a co-host of the fourth hour of “The Today Show” on Friday alongside Hoda Kotb, and after appearing in the first hour of the morning show as a guest. But Kelly allegedly stormed off the set right before the fourth hour and left Hoda scrambling!
Apparently, Kelly was livid about the subpar dressing rooms, and her team was in a flurry going from location to location inside 30 Rock trying to find something better for her. Apparently, none of the rooms are all that great, and the one room that likely would have worked – Jennifer Lopez was occupying. Hmph. J.Lo was on “Today” promoting her newly released This Is Me…Now album and accompanying Prime documentary.
Kelly, who celebrated her new movie the previous night with her Destiny’s Child besties, was def carrying the spirit of Taraji P. Henson and not putting up with what she viewed as mistreatment any longer. And left the NBC crew to figure ish out in minutes without her!
Page Six reports:
Kelly Rowland dramatically walked out of NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday morning after the star thought her dressing room was not up to snuff, sources exclusively tell Page Six.
The R&B singer and actress was a guest on the 8a.m. hour of “Today,” and was then expected to fill in for Jenna Bush Hager in the fourth hour as guest host of “Today with Hoda & Jenna.”
Rowland, however, dropped out at the 11th hour because her dressing room wasn’t up to par, and she left Hoda Kotb scurrying to find a replacement, sources told us.
Apparently it was a dramatic scene that followed:
Rowland and her team played a dramatic game of “musical dressing rooms,” we hear.They inquired about a green room upstairs because “they didn’t like the one she was in.”
Unfortunately, the upstairs room was occupied by Jennifer Lopez, who arrived to the studio prior to Rowland to promote her new album, “This Is Me… Now,” and her accompanying film project, “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.”
The dressing room situation seems to be a known issue at 30 Rock:
Dressing rooms at “Today” are known to be some of the smallest in the TV industry — practically “glorified closets,” as one source put it.
“They’re not nice. It’s the oldest building. There are major space limitations, [it’s] not glamorous. It’s not fresh flowers, and candles and gourmet food. It’s basically [a] white box,” shared the TV source.
Still, we’re told “Today” producers offered Rowland several other options, including multiple talent dressing rooms and some much larger utility makeup and hair areas.
But the NBC staffers are still confused as to why Kelly didn’t seem to want to make things work:
Rowland’s abrupt exit left “Today” insiders perplexed because, “She’s beloved at ‘Today.’ She was getting the full hour, and Hoda’s the biggest hype woman on the planet! It made no sense,” a source said.
Hoda wasn’t left stranded for too long, though. Some type of way Rita Ora was able to step in last minute.
Thankfully for Kotb, singer Rita Ora volunteered and filled in for Rowland.
We hear she happily took a dressing room similar to the one briefly occupied by the former Destiny’s Child star.
We’re sure she did….
Kelly’s new movie Mea Culpa, created by Tyler Perry, is out now on Netflix.
Photos: Courtesy of Netflix
