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While Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are riding high off the back of the Democratic National Convention’s final night, one thing remained shrouded in mystery: where was Beyoncé?
Stars flooded to Chicago, Illinois, from Monday for the four-day long convention, with performances from the likes of Stevie Wonder and John Legend.
Over the course of the week, speculation was mounting that Queen Bey would take to the stage and endorse Harris with a performance on the closing night.
But when the vice president took to the stage, she was accompanied only by Beyoncé’s hit song Freedom blaring through the United Center’s PA system.
Droves of Beyoncé-supporting delegates and other attendees were somewhat disheartened after some had even shown up in stetsons and red-white-and-blue sashes in an apparent nod to the star’s recent album Cowboy Carter.
So, where did the rumors come from?
While Beyoncé has not publicly endorsed Harris for 2024, she indicated her support for the vice president by granting her rights to use Freedom as the official anthem of the Harris campaign almost as soon as it launched.
When Trump’s campaign used the song without permission during a video of the former president stepping off a plane in Michigan this week, the singer sent him a cease-and-desist letter. The post featuring the video on X was quickly deleted.
Beyoncé, who voted for President Joe Biden during the 2020 election, also gave Harris and husband Doug Emhoff tickets worth approximately $1,655 to her Renaissance Tour in 2023.
The rumor mill was already building during the week that the star could put in an appearance in Chicago.
Then, on Thursday, TMZ reported – citing multiple sources – that the artist would give a surprise performance on Harris’s big night.
But the night came and went with no Beyoncé, while Pink and The Chicks took to the stage.
White House Political Director Emmy Ruiz also added fuel to the fire when she posted a single bee emoji with no further context on X on Thursday.
Instead of deleting the post, she quickly followed it up with: “Sorry guys my 6 year old took my phone.”
DNC attendees also spoke of rumblings on the ground in Chicago.
Former representative Adam Kinzinger, one of several Republicans who spoke at the DNC, said he heard rumours about the star making an appearance, according to The Hill.
DNC Attendee Nick Hutchins, who works for the progressive firm Swing Left, posted that he heard a Beyoncé song during rehearsals. “Someone is singing ‘Cuff It’ by Beyoncé over the sound system at the DNC… is this a sound check with a stand-in?” he wrote on X on Thursday with a video of the song being sung to a near-empty United Center.
Then, not long before Harris was due to take the stage, one of Beyoncé’s representatives delivered a blow, confirming that the singer would not be performing.
“Beyoncé was never scheduled to be there,” they told The Hollywood Reporter.
Beyoncé’s publicist Yvette Noel-Schure also took to Instagram to say: “At home watching and anticipating the VP’s historic speech. Focus on the win and register to vote. Do not report rumors. FOCUS.”
TMZ ended up walking back its scoop.
In a post on X, along with amending their original piece, the outlet wrote: “To quote the great Beyonce: We gotta lay our cards down, down, down … we got this one wrong.”
