Hoda Kotb Breaks Silence on Kelly Rowland’s Today No-Show: ‘I Just Want to Say This…’ — WATCH
Let it be known that there is no bad blood between Hoda Kotb and Kelly Rowland.
During Tuesday’s edition of Today With Hoda & Jenna, Kotb addressed reports that the singer-actress — who on Thursday was slated to fill in for Jenna Bush Hager as guest host of the Today show’s 10 am hour — bailed on NBC’s AM staple at the last minute because she was displeased with her assigned dressing room.
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“I just want to say this: I have great love and admiration for Kelly Rowland,” Kotb began. “I adore her and I want her to come back on our show and I want her to host again.”
“She is welcome any time,” Hager interjected.
“Of course she is!” Kotb said not once, but twice. “She can share my dressing room! We’ll be in it together! Anyway, I just wanted to say that we love her. We’ve loved her on this show for many, many, many years.”
According to the New York Post, which first reported news of Rowland’s abrupt exit, Today With Hoda & Jenna staffers offered the Destiny’s Child vet several dressing room options Thursday, including “multiple talent dressing rooms and some much larger utility makeup and hair areas,” to no avail.
“They didn’t want that,” an insider told the paper of Rowland and her team. “So they walked.”
Rowland’s 11th hour departure — which came after she appeared during Today‘s 8 am hour to promote her starring role in Netflix’s Tyler Perry-produced Netflix movie Mea Culpa — reportedly left Kotb “scurrying” to find a replacement.
Ultimately, singer Rita Ora stepped in to fill the void.
Watch Kotb address the Rowland controversy below.
Hoda says she has ‘great love’ for Kelly Rowland: ‘She can share my dressing room!’ pic.twitter.com/ax5ZEtv8aP
— TODAY with Hoda & Jenna (@HodaAndJenna) February 20, 2024
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