A few hours before Kamala Harris' convention speech Thursday night, there was a hot rumor: The evening might feature a surprise guest. A couple of the names being floated were Beyonce and Taylor Swift. The anticipation among many was off the charts, and then... nothing happened. Well, except for the Democrat nominee's speech. Convention-goers were a bit let down:
Hearing lots of “But where is Beyoncé?!” leaving the DNC
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) August 23, 2024
The media can feel good about themselves, however, because, as Tom Elliott noted in video form, they did their part to gin up excitement:
SUPERCUT!
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 23, 2024
Corporate media help spread #DNC’s Beyoncé disinformation pic.twitter.com/MusEhYKIAP
The media pushing a fake rumor was the perfect addition to the Democrats pushing a phony candidacy.
It was all a ploy to get them to stay to the end. Shameful.
— Burt Macklin (@BurtMaclin_FBI) August 23, 2024
It was likely an attempt to convince attendees to stay in the building until the end, as well as make sure there were more people watching on TV. How many of these viewers stayed tuned in because of the "special guest" tease?
Harris DNC speech drew 28.9 million viewers, a half million more than Trump https://t.co/F4n2GYh2vK
— POLITICO (@politico) August 23, 2024
We'll go ahead and call that number a "Beyonce bounce" for the Dems.
Could it be because of Beyoncé? pic.twitter.com/GSd2C6DfkG
— @amuse (@amuse) August 23, 2024
Well yeah.
— Chad Felix Greene 🇮🇱 (@chadfelixg) August 23, 2024
People were waiting for Beyonce. https://t.co/0M25Ox5kod
Bc the Dems promised a Beyoncé concert that didn’t happen https://t.co/2mydv5BfMz
— Dan 🇺🇸 (@danieltobin) August 24, 2024
Final night of DNC total viewership: 28 million.
Viewership not counting people who tuned in because they were told Beyoncé or Taylor Swift might show up: 5 million.
They thought Beyoncé was going to be there…
— Ava- I Love My USA! 🇺🇸 (@WEdwarda) August 23, 2024
The DNC knew that "Beyonce might be there" would be more likely to increase viewership than "Kamala will definitely be there."
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