(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Many delegates and others attending the Democratic National Convention in Chicago were reportedly tricked into staying for Kamala Harris’s speech and formal acceptance of the nomination with the promise of a free concert from singer Beyoncé Knowles.
Kamala Harris is so bad at this her own party had to lie and tell attendees Beyoncé was coming so people wouldn’t bail before Harris’s speech and leave a bunch of empty seats for the cameras. Amazing. https://t.co/tnFap6tXsW
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 23, 2024
Although Harris, who recently became Democrats’ anointed presidential candidate following a coup against President Joe Biden, was the main draw, the evening lineup lacked the star power of previous nights, when heavy-hitters including Oprah Winfrey, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Bill and Hillary Clinton all graced the DNC stage.
To avoid the traffic jams, long security lines at O’Hare Airport and maggots in their hotel cereal, some may have considered cutting short the trip.
That is, until the gossip site TMZ and others began reporting that Knowles’s plane had touched down in Chicago.
Harris, who is not known for her speaking prowess and shattered no expectations with her falsehood-filled performance on Thursday, has regularly relied on gimmicks to fill the arenas, including musical guests like Megan Thee Stallion and Bon Iver.
She also has used Knowles’s song “Freedom” as her unofficial theme song, and it was said to be the theme of the DNC’s final night, adding more fuel to the speculation about a surprise cameo appearance.
Special Guests at the DNC? It could happen…. pic.twitter.com/1tKCHhpD2W
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) August 22, 2024
Harris’s GOP rival, former President Donald Trump, has collected endorsements from a number of high-profile rappers as both campaigns jockey for a share of the youth vote and Trump actively seeks to court members of the black community who have reliably voted Democrat since the Lyndon Johnson presidency in the 1960s.
However, Knowles, who recently sparked controversy with her release of a country music album, made clear where her loyalties lay by granting Harris permission to use the song “Freedom” and then issuing a cease-and-desist notice to Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung after he posted a parody of it.
Others speculated that pop-star Taylor Swift might show up after flight trackers following the path of her private jet floated rumors that it had landed in Chicago.
TAYLOR IS FLYING TO CHICAGO O’HARE. I wonder why she needs to land in Chicago??
Hmmm 🤔 https://t.co/xcBBkPsv4o
— Frank Sowa (@FrankSowa1) August 22, 2024
Swift—who launched her career as a country singer–songwriter on Toby Keith’s record label—first went political in 2018, endorsing the opponent of GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn. Shortly thereafter an investment group that included George Soros bought out the rights to her early song catalog, leading some to suspect that she may be compromised.
George Soros owns Taylor Swift music. She is a performer following orders. Populist/conservatives should not be taking the dinosaur media’s bait and attacking her. The dying system is trying to subconsciously switch her out with Biden in young voters minds. This only works if you… https://t.co/FggrcZQCAq
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) January 30, 2024
Gradually, attendees began to realize that neither superstar would show. A representative for Knowles told the Hollywood Reporter that “Beyoncé was never scheduled to be there. The report of a performance is untrue.”
After neither superstar showed, some chalked it up to yet another of the many examples of left-wing gaslighting that party elites had engaged in during the four-day gathering.
Watch as Fox News hosts ROAST Kamala Harris and the Democrats for leaking the rumor that Beyonce was going to appear at the DNC last night:
Greg Gutfeld: "They needed people to stick around…They used Beyonce… So people would stick around for Kamala. Yeah! That just, that is… pic.twitter.com/lw1lq6CisB
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) August 23, 2024
CNN host Abby Phillip was among those who directed their ire at TMZ, saying in an X post that the site had “lost a lot of credibility.” However, conservatives fired back that her own network had issues of its own in that department.
Do you think the public views TMZ or CNN as having more credibility?
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 23, 2024
On Friday’s Fox and Friends, conservative-leaning hosts Will Cain and Lawrence Jones said the episode contributed to the perception that the DNC—and the Harris–Walz campaign overall—had an air of “phoniness” that was becoming harder to hide from the public, Mediaite reported.
“All the talk yesterday was Beyoncé. Where was Beyoncé? Beyoncé at the DNC!” said Cain.
“… Was that a bait and switch?” he continued. “There was no Beyoncé. [It was] used to pump up the ratings so more people would see Kamala.”
Jones concurred that the whole thing was a sham from the start.
“One-hundred , tt was a made up hoax from the very beginning,” he said. “… But it definitely got a lot of people to show up because I saw a lot of people that were there just for Beyoncé.”
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.
