The showrunners for the Democratic National Convention spoke out about how members of their own staff didn't even believe them when they tried to shut down rumors that singer Beyoncé Knowles would be making a surprise appearance on the fourth and final day of the DNC.
Director Glenn Weiss and executive producer Ricky Kirshner, who oversaw the convention's entertainment, clarified on Monday that Beyoncé was never slated to perform.
Weiss said the following in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
“This is the internet taking on a life of its own and people taking something as fact — literally to the point that people in my booth are saying, ‘Is she coming? You can tell me. And I would say ‘I have no knowledge she’s coming.’”
“And they would say ‘No knowledge? So there’s something to know!’ It was pretty crazy,” he continued. “But she wasn’t coming. In the end even TMZ [which first reported it] had to issue an apology.”
The rumor quickly went viral on social media, leading many fans to believe that Beyoncé was poised to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election against former President Donald Trump. However, Kirshner admitted he remains puzzled about how this rumor originated.
He said:
“We never put out anything about Beyoncé. We denied it every time the media asked us — even though, by the way, people on my staff didn’t believe me. I kept getting texts from news organizations saying, ‘When is Beyoncé coming out?’”
The rumor had some basis, as Beyoncé had previously performed for then-nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 and allowed Harris to use her song "Freedom" during the campaign.
But the disappointment among the Beyhive was palpable and others definitely had opinions.
The rumor was first reported by TMZ, which later updated its story to acknowledge that "we got this one wrong."
Despite that, an average of 21.8 million viewers tuned in over four days to watch the DNC in Chicago, according to Nielsen data.
The viewership for the DNC surpassed the Republican National Convention's average of 19.1 million viewers in July. Nielsen reported that the final night of the DNC, featuring Harris's acceptance speech, attracted 26.2 million viewers, compared to the 25.3 million who watched the final night of the Republican convention.
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