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.
“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,” a source familiar with the situation told Page Six.
Rowland was on the show to promote her new Tyler Perry-produced Netflix movie, “Mea Culpa,” in which she stars and is also a producer.
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.
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.”
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.
“They didn’t want that. [The show] basically offered up as much as possible, but they weren’t happy with it, so they walked and they left,” the insider said.
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.
Everything about this story is sending me:
– Kelly Rowland abruptly leaving the Today show because she had an awful green room
– J Lo was in the green room she wanted
– Hoda had no guest so Rita Ora filled in at the last minute pic.twitter.com/lu2MPciVgb— Ira (@iramadisonthree) February 16, 2024
She probably walked off because they insisted on asking her about Beyonce instead of focusing on the movie she was there to promote….
but you didn’t hear that from me!
Kelly Rowland was on the Today show this morning and she was not having them wanting to ask her about Beyoncé doing country music lol. Her reaction was hilarious to me. She’s there for her movie and her stuff. She handled it w/grace when asked but I get why she’d be annoyed. pic.twitter.com/F4UsRSXbJd
— Ebony Robinson (@ebonyrob_) February 15, 2024
Reps for “Today,” and Rowland, did not comment.
