The DNC’s Surprise Guest Was Real to Us
White House political director Emmy Ruiz put the Beyhive on alert on Thursday afternoon by tweeting a single bee emoji. With multiple outlets suggesting that there were rumors a surprise guest had been booked for the final night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, people immediately began speculating that Beyoncé would perform before Kamala Harris officially accepted the presidential nomination. It made sense: Bey has approved the use of her song “Freedom” on Harris’s campaign trail (in contrast, her team reportedly threatened to send a cease-and-desist letter after a Donald Trump spokesperson used a clip of “Freedom” in a now-deleted social media post).
Mitt Romney, who emerged as another popular prediction, denied on social media that he was the surprise guest, tweeting, “My guess is that it will be Beyoncé or Taylor Swift.” Some stans started dreaming even bigger, wondering if Bey and Tay would perform a duet. But the primary suspect online still seemed to be Beyoncé, with TMZ even reporting that she was in Chicago to perform. However, not long before Harris took the stage, Beyoncé’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, shared a screenshot of a Hollywood Reporter piece that said a rep had confirmed that Beyoncé “was never scheduled” to attend and would not take the stage. And it soon became apparent that there was in fact no surprise guest at all. Be honest, Democrats, was this a plot to get stans to tune in all night? Because it worked. Below, the best memes and predictions from throughout the night.
Beyonce walks in, a capella. Taylor Swift brings in harmony. After a verse, a quiet guitar joins in and Dolly Parton arrives. As the live band brings it to a peak, Simone Biles flips across the stage. A lone eagle soars across the audience, screeching.
— Fayelle Ewuakye????❄️????????⭐️ (@FayelleEwuakye) August 22, 2024
Truthfully, I want the DNC surprise to be Beyoncé AND Taylor. If there was ever a time to unite the country, unite the stans, and save democracy, this is it.
— ????????????Astro⁷✨ (@astro_kianna) August 22, 2024
My expectations are so high that I will be impressed by nothing less than Beyoncé singing Crazy in Love with George W Bush doing the Jay-Z parts
— Tony (@realtonysm1th) August 22, 2024
The surprise guest is George R.R. Martin and he's finished writing "The Winds of Winter."
— Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) August 23, 2024
The funniest possible special guest at the DNC tonight would be to tease Beyonce and then have James Taylor walk out on the stage flipping the double bird. "You thought you could just skip me? You thought you could just NOT have James Taylor?"
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) August 23, 2024
???? the dnc surprise guest is beloved character actor richard kind
— David Mack (@davidmackau) August 22, 2024
BREAKING: Second surprise DNC guest announced pic.twitter.com/a53qYb5qtW
— Eric Champnella (@champnella) August 23, 2024
just put down $15,000 on weird al being the surprise DNC guest at 85,000:1 odds, please pray for me
— Rob DenBleyker (@RobDenBleyker) August 22, 2024
BREAKING: I have gotten word from a source about tonight's surprise DNC performance. They didn't get Beyonce or Taylor but locked down something bigger: 1990s ska sensations Reel Big Fish will play Vice President Harris onto the stage to accept the nomination. https://t.co/kWaTOcfvkN
— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) August 22, 2024
DNC surprise guest: Yevgeny Prigozhin, back from the dead and ready to drop some truth bombs. pic.twitter.com/KaELjSLicU
— Sir Humphrey ???????? (@bdquinn) August 22, 2024
When everybody is expecting Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, but you’re about to rap about the Declaration of Independence or some shit for 12 minutes instead. pic.twitter.com/71pjQVsAoj
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) August 23, 2024
The lady who sings “fight song” backstage finding out people think Beyonce is performing: pic.twitter.com/w8e8bMRmAL
— gjörk (@mixedfruit_) August 23, 2024
george bush, taylor swift, and beyoncé finding out they’re performing at the DNC together pic.twitter.com/WG6swiCzVS
— Guilty as Slade? ✨ (@Jesse_bslade) August 22, 2024
omg KAMALA & BEYONCÉ on the DNC stage!!! pic.twitter.com/kn5ZrGcyT1
— Frank Costa (@feistyfrank) August 23, 2024
the dnc’s social media manger watching the taylor swift/beyoncé surprise appearance speculation tweets pour in while lin-manuel miranda warms up
— one dozen rats at a keyboard (@PanasonicDX4500) August 22, 2024
pic.twitter.com/CUo3l49LGk
kamala after tricking yall to watch the dnc for a beyoncé performance pic.twitter.com/O16SKqliAH
— shayla (@bornysterday) August 23, 2024
jokes on you all, the surprise guest was Leon Panetta
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) August 23, 2024
Do you guys think there is someone at the DNC who made a joke about a surprise guest to a reporter today and has now sweated through like 7 shirts
— maris crane (@earlsofrisk) August 23, 2024
Maybe the surprise guest was the friends we made along the way
— B.W. Carlin (@BaileyCarlin) August 23, 2024
and when the DNC surprise guest is Tom Holland and he repeats the best performance of our lifetime then what pic.twitter.com/lBR2vCiGsH
— pamela ????✨ (@tisthepamseason) August 23, 2024
Beyoncé & Taylor Swift at home laughing at us like pic.twitter.com/CKFpj66sgc
— ???? (@heyjaeee) August 23, 2024
Good Evening, “DNC surprise Beyoncé” was a 7 hour sociological study conducted by the Democratic Party. We are now complete with our study. Thank you for your attention.
— Joshua Rush (@JoshuaRush) August 23, 2024
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