Will Beyoncé or Taylor Swift show up at the DNC? Unsubstantiated hope springs eternal
The Washington state delegation members were all in for presumptive nominee Beyoncé at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, sporting sashes and sparkling silver hats on Monday night in Chicago in a nod to the singer’s “Cowboy Carter” album.
Wait a sec.
Scratch that — they were all in for Kamala Harris, the actual Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential race. The sashes read “Cowboy Kamala.” And the voice of Queen Bey was present only in recorded form as the beaming vice president took to the stage briefly at night’s end with “Freedom” playing as her backing track.
Nevertheless, hope persisted for a DNC appearance by Beyoncé, or maybe Taylor Swift.
Kelly Jacobs, a delegate from Mississippi, made 1,000 ‘Swifty Voter’ and ‘Kamala’ bracelets to hand out at the Democratic National Convention.
“Rumors are swirling, big time,” CNN anchor Sara Sidner said Monday morning on “CNN News Central.” “Everybody’s talking about it — that two of the biggest names in music, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, might make appearances.”
“Might. All right,” co-anchor John Berman said before tossing to correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister, who promptly rattled off several celebrities confirmed or expected at the convention and related events. Bey and Tay were not among them.
“Just give us the answer,” Sidner finally said before breaking into giggles. “Beyoncé and Taylor — are they going to be here? ’Cuz that’s what we really want to know.”
“We do know that Beyoncé is backing Vice President Harris,” Wagmeister said. “I exclusively broke the news for us that she gave [Harris] clearance to use her song ‘Freedom’ as her official campaign song, so that would leave some room to believe that Beyoncé potentially could take the stage at the DNC.
Beyoncé gives Vice President Kamala Harris, a newly minted 2024 Democratic candidate, permission to use the song ‘Freedom’ in her presidential campaign.
“Now, Taylor Swift has previously backed the Biden-Harris administration. Back in 2020, she backed Biden,” she continued. “But we haven’t heard from her yet. Now remember, she is on tour right now. ... She’s a little busy in London, but, her show ends on Tuesday. She could hop on a private jet and she could be there by Wednesday. So we will see. But Taylor also comes back to the U.S. in October, so there is time for her to make an endorsement if she chooses to.”
In response to that segment, over on “The Daily Show,” comic Michael Kosta was cracking up over CNN’s semi-serious speculation.
“Did you hear that? A completely unsubstantiated rumor about Taylor Swift and Beyoncé! But in the meantime, give it up for Ana Navarro and Tony Goldwyn,” Kosta joked. “This feels like hosting a birthday when you’re 13 and being like, ‘Hey, my cousin says he knows Tony Hawk, so, I don’t know, he might show up.’”
But Swift simply won’t happen, a convention “insider” told Deadline. Because it’s about the candidate, stupid.
The suspects in a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift shows in Vienna appeared to be inspired by Islamic State and Al Qaeda, Austrian authorities say.
“Everybody loves Taylor, but having her here would overshadow everything,” the person said Monday. “Think about it, no one would remember a word the vice president said in her acceptance speech. All the headlines would be about Swift.”
Plus there’s the whole thing where former President Trump recently “accepted” satirical, supposedly ISIS-inspired support from Team Swift. Ex-POTUS’ posting of fake photos implying the existence of a “Swifties for Trump” movement was cited in some quarters as “misinformation,” while others thought he was merely making a joke. But we digress.
So in more realistic DNC celebrity news, “Scandal” actor Goldwyn hosted Monday night’s main event, with “The View” host Navarro, Mindy Kaling of “The Mindy Project” and Kerry Washington of “Scandal” on tap, respectively, for each remaining night of the convention.
Singers Mickey Guyton and Jason Isbell — neither of whom is Beyoncé or Taylor Swift — provided the entertainment Monday night while singer James Taylor’s performance was cut when the evening ran late. (“[I]t became clear, as the evening unfolded, that there wouldn’t be time for our ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ with cello and voices,” Taylor said in a statement Tuesday on X.) Entertainer names for the rest of the nights remained under wraps Tuesday afternoon.
Less than a week into a reframed general election, it is clear that the race between Harris and Trump is not just between a man and a woman, but about competing notions of gender roles.
So yes, Beyoncé and Swift could, might, in theory, possibly, show up at some point to endorse Harris, with words or music or both. Beyoncé isn’t even on tour at the moment. But who really needs either singer to have their starry presence present?
Mississippi delegate Kelly Jacobs turned $3,000 worth of materials into 1,000 friendship bracelets — a staple for Swift fans — to hand out to voters before and at the convention. They read “Kamala” or “Swifty Voter.”
“I paid for them, I made them,” Jacobs, 65, told The Times’ Seema Mehta at the DNC this week. “... I say, ‘Well, would you like this Swifty voter bracelet?’ And then I ask them to please vote on Tuesday, November the 5th for whomever they like. So it’s a campaign strategy that’s really gone over well.
“People want the friendship bracelets.”
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