Dominican actress and model Massiel Taveras is speaking out after she and Kelly Rowland clashed with the same security guard on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.
Taveras went viral over the weekend when video footage circulating via social media showed her getting into a heated exchange with a security guard on the red carpet on Wednesday, May 22. The guard had a similar experience with Rowland the day before.
Sharing a news article about the two incidents, Taveras wrote via Instagram on Monday, May 27: “I want to thank all of you for this incredible support, today more than ever we need to stay together, support each other, protect our soul, have strong boundaries and stand for our rights.”
Taveras went on to praise Rowland for the way she handled being ushered off the red carpet at the premiere of the French-Italian film Marcello Mio on Tuesday, May 21.
“Let’s show some love and respect to the extraordinary @kellyrowland, a pure soul, a talented, classy, educated woman of color that represents with respect all of US🤎🙌,” Taveras wrote in the caption of her post.
“I’m impressed how you handled sister [sic]. I didn’t know that happened to you first, I was very impressed how calm and genteel you were because in my case I was tired of the abuse,” the post continued. “BLACK WOMAN MATTERS — we are not going to be in silence on situations like that, we need respect, it’s enough. I hug you queen #kellyrowland.”
“The woman knows what happened, I know what happened,” Rowland, 43, told AP Entertainment of her own incident on Thursday, May 23. “I have a boundary and I stand by those boundaries, and that is it.”
“There were other women that attended that carpet that did not quite look like me. They didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off,” the Destiny’s Child singer added.
“I stood my ground, and she felt like she had to stand hers,” Rowland said. “But I stood my ground.”
Us Weekly has reached out to the Cannes Film Festival for comment.
