Beyonce at DNC? Internet duped by pervasive rumors on final night of Democratic National Convention

While Thursday night’s big finish at the Democratic Party’s quadrennial pep rally was a rousing speech by current Vice President and 2024 party nominee Kamala Harris, a great many people online had been led to believe that 32-time Grammy-winning recording artist Beyoncé would show up at the United Center in Chicago.

The rumor began on X, formerly Twitter, a website that used to have a fairly rigorous verification process before Elon Musk purchased it, with “insiders” saying that the final night would feature a “special guest” that would be even more of a shocker than Oprah Winfrey, who made an appearance earlier in the week. Then TMZ, an outlet that has a very good track record for being first with entertainment news, wrote that “Queen Bey will be the big surprise performer as VP Harris officially accepts the Democratic party’s nomination to run for president.”

When that failed to happen, the website did ‘fess up, and wrote “To quote the great Beyonce: We gotta lay our cards down, down, down … we got this one wrong,” a reference to the star’s recent hit single “Texas Hold ‘Em.” 

On a special post-DNC episode of “The Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart joked that even he was convinced the platinum-selling artist would make an appearance. His team cut together a whole bit saying that the real special guest was Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin, and joked about new national craze, “the Slot Hive.”

Not to seed conspiracy, but perhaps the false report was actually initiated by the Democrats in an effort to get Millenials and Zoomers to put down their phones for a few minutes and tune in to what Candidate Harris had to say? Weirder things have happened!

This is not to say that the four-night event was totally bereft of stars. Hollywood notables who hit the stage at the convention in addition to Winfrey included Mickey Guyton, Jason Isbell, Tony Goldwyn, Patti LaBelle, Common, Lil John, Mindy Kaling, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Sheila E., Maren Morris, Kenan Thompson, Kerry Washington, The Chicks, P!nk and Eva Longoria. 

By contrast, the Republican Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee earlier in the summer featured Hulk Hogan and Amber Rose.