Members of the Washington state delegation rallied behind presumptive nominee Beyoncé at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, sporting shiny silver sashes and hats Monday night in Chicago in a nod to the singer's “Cowboy Carter” album.
Wait a second.
Forget about that: everyone was ready to… Kamala Harrishe current Democratic presidential candidate in 2024. The bands read “Cowboy Kamala.” And Queen Bey’s voice was only present in recorded form when the radiant vice president briefly took the stage at the end of the night with “Freedom” playing in the background.
Still, hopes persisted that Beyoncé, or perhaps Taylor Swift, would appear at the Democratic National Convention.
“There are a lot of rumors,” CNN anchor Sara Sidner said Monday morning on “CNN News Central.” “Everyone is talking about two of the biggest names in music, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, potentially making an appearance.”
“It could be. It’s OK,” co-host John Berman said before handing the call over to correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister, who quickly ticked off several celebrities confirmed or expected to attend the convention and related events. Bey and Tay were not among them.
“Give us the answer,” Sidner finally said before letting out a chuckle. “Beyoncé and Taylor, will they be here? Because that’s what we really want to know.”
“We know that Beyoncé is endorsing Vice President Harris,” Wagmeister said. “I broke the news exclusively to everyone that she endorsed her. [Harris] permission to use her song 'Freedom' as her official campaign song, which would leave some room to believe that Beyoncé could potentially take the stage at the Democratic National Convention.
“Now, Taylor Swift has previously endorsed the Biden-Harris administration. In 2020, she endorsed Biden,” he continued. “But we haven’t heard from her yet. Now remember, she’s on tour right now… She’s a little busy in London, but her show ends on Tuesday. She might hop on a private jet and she might be there on Wednesday. So we’ll see. But Taylor is also returning to the U.S. in October, so there’s time for her to make an endorsement if she chooses to.”
In response to that segment on “The Daily Show,” comedian Michael Kosta laughed his head off at CNN’s semi-serious speculation.
“Did you hear that? A completely unfounded rumor about Taylor Swift and Beyoncé! But in the meantime, a round of applause for Ana Navarro and Tony Goldwyn,” Kosta joked. “This feels like you’re celebrating a birthday when you’re 13 and you’re like, ‘Hey, my cousin says he knows Tony Hawk, so, I don’t know, he might show up. ’”
But Swift just won't happen, one convention insider told Deadline. Because it's all about the nominee, stupid.
“Everyone loves Taylor, but having her here would overshadow everything,” the source 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.”
Then there’s the whole issue of former President Trump recently “accepting” a satirical, supposedly ISIS-inspired endorsement from Team Swift. The former president’s posting of fake photos hinting at the existence of a “Swifties for Trump” movement was cited in some quarters as “misinformation,” while others thought he was simply making a joke. But we digress.
So in more down-to-earth DNC celebrity news, “Scandal” actor Goldwyn emceed Monday night’s main event, with “The View” host Navarro, “The Mindy Project’s” Mindy Kaling and “Scandal’s” Kerry Washington on hand, respectively, for each remaining night of the convention.
Singers Mickey Guyton and Jason Isbell, neither of whom are Beyoncé or Taylor Swift, provided the entertainment on Monday night, while singer James Taylor's performance was cut short when the evening stretched into the late afternoon. (“[I]”It became apparent as the night progressed that there would be no time for our 'You've Got a Friend' with cello and vocals,” Taylor said in a statement Tuesday on X.) Performer names for the rest of the nights remained under wraps Tuesday afternoon.
So yes, Beyoncé and Swift could, theoretically, possibly, show up at some point to support Harris, with words or music or both. Beyoncé isn't even on tour right now. But who really needs either singer to be there?
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 during the convention. They read “Kamala” or “Swift Voter.”
“I paid for them, I made them,” Jacobs, 65, told The Times’ Seema Mehta at the Democratic National Convention this week. “… I say to them, ‘Well, do you want this Swifty voter bracelet?’ And then I ask them to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 5, for whoever they want. So it’s a campaign strategy that has really worked well.”
“People want friendship bracelets.”
