Hoda Kotb Reacts to Kelly Rowland Walking Off Today Set: ‘I Just Want to Say This…’
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Only open arms at the Today show. Hoda Kotb just responded to Kelly Rowland walking out of the daytime talkshow. On February 16, 2023, the Destiny’s Child singer reportedly left the show after she wasn’t content with the dressing room situation at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
“I just wanna 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,” said Kotb on Today with Hoda & Jenna on February 20, 2024. “She is welcome any time,” Jenna Bush Hager interjected.
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“Of course she is!” Kotb said 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.”
“Remember the first time she was a guest and we both said, ‘Can she please host with us?'” Bush Hagersaid. “We adore her.”
Page Six reported that the Mea Culpa star left because of the dressing rooms at Today. “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,” one source claimed. She reportedly played a game of “musical dressing rooms” at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, with one of the bigger dressing rooms occupied by Jennifer Lopez.
Rita Ora ended up covering for Rowland, as she was alerted only two minutes before going on air. “Well, this happened” the “For You” singer captioned on Instagram. “We had two minutes to prepare ahhh, thank you @hodaandjenna for asking me to co-host the show.”
“Everyone was so lovely and kind, I had SO much fun doing it,” Ora added. “Love to everyone that tuned in, maybe we should do more.”
Kotb also made a shoutout to The Masked Singer judge. “On another note, too, we just want to give a shoutout to Rita Ora, who kind of came in at the last second and really did a phenomenal job,” Hoda said. “So we have great women on this show. Two great women right there.”
Rowland appeared on The Sherri Sheperd Show on the same day Hoda Kotb made the statement. Rowland thanked Shepherd for “being light, positive energy in this space.” She continued, “We needed you. And I thank you so much for your light.”
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