Kelly Rowland suggests racism was at play in Cannes Film Festival red carpet incident

“Kelly, can you handle it?” No, Kelly Rowland couldn’t handle being rushed down the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

The former “Destiny’s Child” actress, wearing a custom red dress by Anamika Khanna and turning heads with her blonde bob, appeared to scold an usher on the red carpet after posing for photographers at the premiere of “Marcello Mio” on Wednesday.

As a security guard appeared to urge the music star up the stairs, Rowland turned around, placed her hands on the security guard’s shoulders and mumbled something.

The security guard then pushed Rowland further up the stairs and the former X Factor judge began an exchange of words with the festival employee, pointing her finger at the usher.

Kelly Rowland suggests there was racism in the red carpet incident

As he walked the red carpet for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS Cannes Gala, an annual fundraiser for HIV and AIDS research during the film festival, Rowland was asked what exactly happened to the security guard the day before.

“The woman knows what happened. I know what happened,” she told the Associated Press. “I have boundaries and I stand by those boundaries and that’s all.”

She continued, “There were other women on the carpet who didn’t look quite like me, and they weren’t insulted, pushed, or told to get off. I stood my ground, and she felt like she had to make her point.”

USA TODAY has contacted the festival for comment.

Kelly Rowland’s viral finger-pointing in Cannes: Social media users react

Social media users had a lot of fun with the raised finger on X, formerly Twitter.

“Do you realize how much money you must have spent for Kelly Rowland to have to control you?! Literally one of the nicest people in the world but don’t take this the wrong way,” wrote one user.

Hoda Kotb wants Kelly Rowland to come back’ after the singer’s departure from the ‘Today’ show

“There are certain people you don’t mess with… And Kelly Rowland is one of them,” one person commented.

“It was perfectly clear that Kelly Rowland was trying to take pictures and they were pushing her and then the security guard stepped on her dress,” writer Meecham Whitson Meriweather said on X, “and Kelly tried to politely correct her but the security guard decided to be rude and Kelly said, ‘Don’t talk to me like that.'”

Kelly Rowland’s moment in Cannes follows the controversial departure from the dressing room of “Hoda & Jenna”

This isn’t the first time Rowland has attracted attention this year. In February, Rowland appeared on “Today With Hoda & Jenna” to talk about her Netflix thriller “Mea Culpa” with host Savannah Guthrie. The former “Destiny’s Child” singer was scheduled to return to the show later that morning and appear as a guest host.

Instead, singer Rita Ora was called in to fill in for Rowland, who has yet to comment on her departure from the talk show. Rowland reportedly left “Today” because she and her team were unhappy with the quality of Rowland’s wardrobe, according to People and Page Six.

Contributors: Edward Segarra and KiMi Robinson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kelly Rowland suggests racism was at play in viral Cannes incident