Media Now Claims No One ‘Actually’ Said Beyoncé Would Perform at Rally
RedState’s Bonchie: “Watching this campaign operate is like watching a naked man smear himself in honey and run through a bear cage.”
When the reality that Beyoncé would not be performing at Vice President Kamala Harris’s Friday rally in Houston set in, supporters weren’t shy about expressing their anger and profound disappointment. Although the Harris campaign itself never said the superstar would sing her 2016 hit song “Freedom,” which has become the campaign’s anthem, at the event, scores of media outlets reported beforehand that Beyoncé would be performing. They based their stories on conversations with anonymous sources who were “familiar with the plan.”
Ahead of the event, NPR’s headline read, “BeyHive meets KHive: Beyoncé set to perform at Houston rally for Harris.” Clever.
USA Today told readers: “Watch live: Beyoncé returns to hometown of Houston to perform at Kamala Harris rally.”
NBC News reported, “Pop superstar Beyoncé will appear with Vice President Kamala Harris at her event in Houston on Friday evening, according to three sources familiar with the plans. Beyoncé is also expected to perform, according to one of the sources, who has direct knowledge of the preparations.” [Emphasis added.]
But when the iconic singer took the stage at the abortion rights-themed rally, she told supporters, “I’m not here as a celebrity. I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother. Your freedom is your God-given right, your human right.”
Beyoncé then endorsed the vice president and exited the stage without performing, leaving attendees furious, frustrated, and difficult to control.
With a nervous grin plastered to her face, Harris tried to calm the unruly crowd, who greeted her with a chorus of boos and shouts.
Reports of the Harris campaign’s “bait and switch” swirled on social media.
JUST IN: Kamala Harris’ rally in Houston, Texas descends into chaos as she fails to control the rally attendees.
Boos and yelling were heard at the rally as Harris failed to calm down the rowdy crowd.
It’s unclear at the moment what exactly is going on. pic.twitter.com/9RIg7QIkf5
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 26, 2024
People were heckling Kamala like crazy all night…the secret service was stressed out pic.twitter.com/Dvk9zv960o
— Alex Stein #99 (@alexstein99) October 26, 2024
The Daily Mail summed up the situation:
Some fans had waited more than 12 hours before packing into the city’s Shell Energy Stadium expecting a performance, after rumors she would sing swirled online and the Washington Post reported on her expected appearance.
Attendees reported seeing people marching towards the exit as soon as she left the stage.
The fury was palpable on social media, where fans complained they had been ‘bamboozled’ by the billing.
‘Bait and switch crowd building,’ one person fumed. ‘Promised a performance to bring people in and they went streaming to the exits when Beyoncé left the stage.’
‘She can’t even deliver on promises to her own followers with a Beyoncé Performance, but yes she will totally close the border and stuff. Kamala Harris is a mess,’ another added.
The brouhaha left both the Harris campaign and the media with egg on their faces. Recognizing that support for their standard bearer has stalled, and even begun slipping away at the most critical time in the election cycle, they clearly raised expectations of a Beyoncé mini-concert to draw a huge crowd to the Houston rally.
In a Saturday morning post on X, Senior Trump campaign adviser Tim Murtaugh wrote: “THEY LIED TO BUILD A CROWD!!”
In what was one of the more amusing responses to the bait and switch, RedState’s Bonchie noted, “Watching this campaign operate is like watching a naked man smear himself in honey and run through a bear cage.”
He’s not wrong!
Beyoncé really showed up at the rally only to speak for a few seconds and not perform, leaving Kamala Harris to be *booed* by her fans.
Watching this campaign operate is like watching a naked man smear himself in honey and run through a bear cage.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) October 26, 2024
Scrambling for a way to restore their credibility, they’re now claiming that no one actually said Beyonce was going to perform at the rally, which is categorically false.
Murtaugh noted the new messaging and cried “foul” in a Sunday morning post on X. He wrote: “It’s not disputable that the Harris campaign lied about Beyoncé’s appearance at the Texas event to build a crowd. Yet, the Media now says: ACTUALLY, NO ONE SAID BEYONCÉ WAS GOING TO PERFORM AT THE HARRIS RALLY!”
It’s not disputable that the Harris campaign lied about Beyoncé’s appearance at the Texas event to build a crowd.
Yet, the Media now says: ACTUALLY, NO ONE SAID BEYONCÉ WAS GOING TO PERFORM AT THE HARRIS RALLY!
Also media: pic.twitter.com/UX1SVTuxR5
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 27, 2024
Although expectations that Beyoncé would perform at the Democratic National Conventions weren’t raised to the same degree as they were ahead of the Houston rally, it’s fair game for voters to make comparisons.
Second time she did it… pic.twitter.com/lE4b9STvRn
— @amuse (@amuse) October 27, 2024
But perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this story is how representative it is of the whole Harris campaign, which itself has been one big bait and switch. Despite its stated themes of joy and good vibes, turning the page, and forging a new way forward, the Harris campaign has been based on one dishonest talking point: Trump is a fascist who will destroy our democracy. No matter what question Harris is asked, she reverts to the same message. Following her disastrous CNN Town Hall last week, even Democrats were forced to admit the truth.
Three weeks ago, the Harris campaign’s momentum came to a standstill. Since then, her national lead over former President Donald Trump has evaporated and he has taken the lead in all seven battleground states. Well aware of the new reality, the campaign has shifted from strategic mode into desperation mode.
Desperation doesn’t look good on anyone. Especially on a weak candidate who never should have been placed at the top of the ticket in the first place.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
Would it have been so hard for her to just sing a couple of songs for the people? It didn’t have to be a serious stage performance … she could have just done a little a cappella singing and the crowd would have been thrilled.
It’s all pretty funny. This is the 2nd bait and switch that Komrade Kamala pulled with Beyonce, already. There’s still time for one more before the election!
Who was that guy she walked out with?
Unless I misunderstanding this story, it was the media that said she was coming there to sing. Not her. And not Mrs. Emhoff’s campaign.
Did I get this wrong? I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken.
Why else would she show up? What else does she do beside sing? She could have just done the national anthem and it would have been the top news story on the commie MSM every day until the election.
If the media made the mistake of claiming that she was going to sing why didn’t anyone from the campaign tamp that down immediately?
The fact is that this the second time they have pulled this – and it came from the campaign, itself.
As George W. Bush said, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me … uh … I won’t get fooled again.”
Beyoncé showed up because she got paid big bucks; sister girl don’t sing for less than several million dollars.
This is what Lalala’s voters can expect of her administration if they send her to the White House.
Didn’t her campaign pay Lizzo $2 Million to sing in Detroit? Those are the reports I’ve seen.
The campaign did not announce that Beyonce would be singing. The press did. But the press was getting their information from campaign sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Kind of tells you how they would govern if allowed into the White House.
Just the sort of thing I would expect from a woman.
/ducking
Beyonce: Not tonight, I have a sore throat.
We’ve been watching it for the past four years.
What kind of an idiot would wait 12 hours to listen to a Beyoncé? It’s a Harris event so I guess the question answers itself. But gives me an idea now. Maybe I should add an accent to my alias? Ok from now on, it’s concisé.
😁 I kept having to remember that accent every time I typed her name!
The campaign was definitely the source
From what I gathered it was anonymous tips from her campaign that said Beyonce would sing. I think it is clear that she is afraid of the crowd size so is doing these stunts. Beyonce, bussing in people, paying for people to show up like in Las Vegas, all fake. Nothing about this women or her campaign is real.
Dad? Is that you?
Based on your last sentence.
It would be a lot more work for Beyonce. She’s not Springsteen or James Taylor, two guys who could pick-up a guitar in their sleep and be reasonably in-tune and entertaining. A product of over-engineered (and autotuned) pop music, she requires big production numbers, backup dancers and a band or canned music, all of which requires some minimal rehearsal and a soundcheck which would have turned Beyonce 5-minute speech into an all-day ordeal. Kamala Harris simply isn’t worth it.
I thought about that … but I think she has a good voice. Here, she is doing an impromptu number with a guitarist in a hospital and sounds nice. That’s all she had to do. People would have been so happy. It would have been the best day of some of their pathetic lives.
Sometimes, you kill the town power and you discover a whole ‘nother side to these artists. I fondly remember Eric Clapton’s acoustic Layla, very much unlike anything he had previously done. I like both versions. Does Beyonce have the same courage?
Beyoncé is a crappy singer and needs a lot of electronic enhancement. I think she needs a lot of setup time. IDK, I wished they had stormed the stage in protest.
My guess is that Harris’ team didn’t pay her to sing, just to show up. Yes, it was a Bait & Switch. Another example of what the nation can expect from Harris: Give the impression that she’s saying what people what people want to hear and then claim “not my fault you made assumptions” when she fails to deliver.
We NEVER SAID Beyonce would perform.
We NEVER FORCED you to get the vax.
We NEVER NAMED Kamala the Border Czar.
We NEVER SAID bread and ground beef prices are 50% higher.
NOBODY HERE wants to take away your guns.
If you WANT your Beyonce, you can KEEP your Beyonce.
51 intelligence gurus agree she HAS ALL THE EARMARKS of a hit singer.
This latest big lie reminds me of the Nikolai full sized electric truck. The company did a demo that showed the truck moving along a highway. Only the truck was actually rolling down hill. It never worked. When the company got caught with this deception, they said something like “We never said the truck was running under electric power.” What hutzpah! The CEO ended up in prison for the many frauds.
We live in a post truth world where almost everything we hear in politics is a big lie.
The democrats have pulled this before with Obama. Obama went to Berlin Germany and passed it off a huge crowd gathered to “see Obama”. The crowd was actually there for a celebration where the most popular band in Germany was performing, and the “Beer was free”. It had nothing to do with Obama being there.
Beyonce is a vile person with very little talent. Most of her music can’t be played on the radio because of the language. Singing “Halo, halo, halo, halo” or “oh oh oh oh oh oh oh” over and over for 2 minutes is irritating at best.
Beyonce is the Autotune Queen.
There is zero possibility she can stand at a microphone and sing, without a studio behind her.
Over-promise. Under-deliver. Lie about what was said in the 1st place.
To quote Rush, “Politics is show business for ugly people.”
I thought that was thrash metal.
It has all the appearances of a good way to purge a party of Communists…fake her support to draw out the loonies, hand them a stinging loss which runs them out for good.
If so, I applaud the Democrats but still wouldn’t entrust them with financial power.
Don’t follow this at all. Without the loonies, they have no one left. If nobody’s throwing money at crazies and undesirables, not even the “non-voting” 🤣 illegals will stay onboard.
Force them to the Green party or some other wanna be party.
Always left wing minutiae maybe you cod just be honest. ( joke of the day)
They are accidentally being honest in their actions. Their campaign is a Charley Foxtrot, just as a Harris/Walz administration would be a Charley Foxtrot.
(Charley Foxtrot is a euphemism for “this operation is not going as planned).
Did Lucy van Pelt grow up to be Kamala Harris?
Wednesday Addams.
Nah. Wednesday Addams is intelligent and witty.
No. Lucy showed some humanity every once in a while.
At least a few folks seem to be figuring out that the d/prog tend to lie to gain political advantage; Bill Clinton ‘middle class tax cuts’. Obama ‘if you like your Doctor…’ among a host of other examples.
In the background of the featured pic people are busy photographing Beyonce’s backside.
Treasured memories.
It was to have something nice to look at while Harris was onstage.
I hope they brought their super wide-angle lenses.
like alll things lefty
we will bs you and you will still be obedient
hmmm what do they call those types?
slaves???
Fools and culties.
Slaves weren’t anywhere near so content to be where they were.
If they could have voted on their masters, some of the masters would have actually lost.
Conveniently, the DNC took care of that for them this year.
fdr lbj carter clinton and obama//biden/biden
say they are content
btw
she DID preform
she lied to herself and then the crowd
that kamala harris is the best person to be potus
great performance
also of note:
some msm CLAIMING harris is NOT making this about her being a women etc and that its trump that is calling out against a female just for being a female and not b/c of her policies
lefty is a sicko
a lying sicko who wants america destroyed by any means necessary
Normies are not impressed by this lawyer BS. You said Beyonce was going to appear, rational, normal people thinks that means she’s going to perform, especially since EVERY OTHER ARTIST you plugged previously performed at Harris’ rallies.
The correct move would be to apologize for the ‘confusion’ (even though they knew exactly what they wanted people to think).
Pretending that AKSHUALLY, everybody should have known there would be no performance, is just idiotic. Not a single person mad about it is going to be impressed by this semantic nonsense.
No. They explicitly said PERFORM, not appear. Check the four-panel tweet.
The Harris campaign lied to the media to get butts in the seats. Beyonce could have corrected the record but went along with the deception.
Democrats deserve to be left holding a crap sandwich. That’s exactly what they support.
You can tell people something without actually saying it. (The Nod and Wink).
You can tell people something but claim they knew it was conditional. (The fine print).
You can tell people something knowing it’s not true and simply don’t give an excrement. (Marxist autocrats and The Harris campaign. But I repeat myself).
The whole Beyoncé thing is amusing. I had heard of her (of course) for years, but had never heard her sing or seen her dance. Finally, A song came on the radio when I with others and they said it was her. I was surprised and commented that her voice just one of 10,000, nothing special. Eventually I saw a bit of her performance on TV, and commented that she wasn’t much of a dancer; a bit stilted. So, what is her appeal?
As for her supposed gorgeous looks, again she’s pedestrian. I used to live in the Philippines and in my 3 minute walk to the grocery store I could see a dozen women much, much better looking.
So, what drives this false consciousness?
Beyonce and Taylor Swift have the same sort of not-bad voice and the same level of okay songwriting. The both have huge productions at their concerts that rely on a LOT of glitz.
The hoopla seems massively out of sync with the actual talent display. I confess I don’t know what drives their popularity, but I never understood Frank Sinatra’s appeal either.
“Media Now Claims No One ‘Actually’ Said Beyoncé Would Perform at Rally”
A simple search verifies that the media jumped to conclusions about Beyoncé attending and made it into a performance.
So the media lied to increase attendance at a Harris Event and then claimed innocence afterwards. However, the campaign issued no corrections beforehand. So, the campaign is not innocent either.
I love it when lies get exposed!
I love it even more when it involves progtards getting stiffed.