Hoda Kotb Claps Back at Kelly Rowland’s ‘Today’ Show Dressing Room Drama!
Hoda Kotb Claps Back at Kelly Rowland’s ‘Today’ Show Dressing Room Drama!
Hoda Kotb has no hard feelings toward Kelly Rowland after she ditched a co-hosting gig on the “Today” show right before the duo was set to host the fourth hour, last week.
Hoda addressed the controversy during Tuesday’s broadcast, commenting during Today with Hoda & Jenna — “I just want to 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.”
Jenna Bush-Hager, who was off last Thursday, the day Rowland was set to step in, agreed and declared that the singer/actress was “welcome anytime.”
Jenna added — “She’s the best.”
Hoda, 59, laughed off the Page Six report claiming that Rowland left the building over a subpar dressing room.
The host said — “Of course she is, of course she is! She can share my dressing room. We’ll be in it together!”
She continued — “But anyway, I just want to say we love her. We’ve loved her on this show for many, many years.”
Jenna reflected back on Rowland’s first appearance on the daytime duo’s show, during which both she and Hoda begged her to “please host with us” one morning.
Rowland’s scheduled stint as a fourth hour guest host went sideways when the Destiny’s Child alum withdrew at the last minute, leaving Hoda in a frantic search for a substitute.
“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 told the outlet.
Rowland’s abrupt departure reportedly left all involved bewildered. A tipster told the outlet that the incident “made no sense.”
“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,” the source said.
Rowland and her entourage engaged in what could be described as a dramatic session of “musical dressing rooms,” according to sources.
“On another note, too, we just wanna give a shout-out to Rita Ora, who kind of came in at the last second and really did a phenomenal job, so we have great women on this show,” Hoda said on Tuesday.
Jenna gave her co-host kudos for handling the crisis with grace, joking that she “won’t take a day off until 2026.”
“I was gonna say, you’re not allowed. That’s your last day off for months and months and months,” Hoda laughed.
Hoda and Ora, 33, repeatedly touched on the fact that the singer had been notified that she would be filling in only a few minutes prior to the start of the show.
Rowland has yet to address the behind-the-scenes drama, but Ora confirmed the report while praising everyone for being “so lovely and kind.”
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