The report was published around 7 p.m. on Thursday, in all caps. TMZ announced that Beyoncé would be “PERFORMING AT DNC’S FINAL NIGHT!!!” After days of increasingly frenzied rumors that she would make an appearance at the Democratic National Convention, this report set the United Center in Chicago abuzz. But TMZ was wrong. So was Mitt Romney. So were the betting markets. So was basically all of social media.
Instead, Vice President Kamala Harris ended the convention by advising attendees to take seriously the task of preserving democracy and not to celebrate prematurely.
It was a sobering end to a day of celebrity-centered anticipation. Since the Harris campaign chose Beyoncé’s “Freedom” as its campaign theme song, I had heard intense speculation that the singer would be a special guest on the night of Harris’s acceptance speech to become the party’s presidential nominee. On the convention’s first day, Harris released her new campaign ad, featuring “Freedom.” There was the precedent set by past conventions, with Stevie Wonder performing in 2008 for Barack Obama, and Katy Perry in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. There was the footage of a marching band rehearsing Beyoncé’s songs in the arena.
As I entered the United Center, I heard the rumor that Beyoncé and Jay-Z had been in Chicago for several days. Before I settled in at the arena, she had been “sighted” at O’Hare airport. Similar stories were ricocheting across the arena.
There was the national anthem sung by the Chicks, with whom Beyoncé performed at the Country Music Association Awards in 2016. Their presence seemed only to reinforce the inevitability of her grand entrance. By 9 p.m., things had reached a fever pitch: I was told by a friend of a friend I was sitting next to that Beyoncé and Taylor Swift were expected to appear onstage together in a mark of feminist solidarity, and stand with the thousands of delegates dressed in suffragist white clothing. The specificity of the rumor was astounding.
Yet an hour later, Beyoncé’s publicist told The Hollywood Reporter: “Beyoncé was never scheduled to be there. The report of a performance is untrue.”
I heard people audibly gasp out of disappointment, while others still said they hoped she’d appear. But it makes sense that the most joyful, musical and skillfully produced D.N.C. did not end with the festivity of a Beyoncé concert. Earlier that evening, Pink’s performance of “What About Us” was a moving, quiet and appropriate response to the testimonies of the families affected by gun violence who preceded her. But based on how animated the prior nights of the convention had been — with performances by Stevie Wonder, John Legend and Sheila E., and Lil Jon’s raucous appearance during roll call — I never thought Pink would be our last live musical note.
Without the rumored high-octane musical performances — and the omission of a Palestinian speaker, the subject of another high-stakes rumor that had gained steam in the lead-up to Thursday night — the singular focus on Harris’s words was made clear. Harris made the argument, heard from several other surrogates over these past few days, that competence, compassion, grit and humility were the presidential traits required for our complicated moment. “Celebrity” is missing from that list, and though there were dozens who appeared over the course of the week in Chicago, it seems like it wasn’t an accident that Harris didn’t go that route for her spotlight appearance.
As the headliner for the night, Harris used her finale as a call to action and to tacitly acknowledge her more prominent campaign theme of freedom — a message that she probably hoped would carry better in her own voice.
Read More: Beyoncé Rumors Briefly Took Center Stage. Kamala Harris Grabbed It Back.
