Posted in: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV, YouTube | Tagged: beyonce, dnc, kamala harris, taylor swift, tim walz, TMZ

TMZ Owns Up to Bad Beyoncé/DNC Intel: "We Got This One Wrong"

TMZ went exclusive with the news that Beyoncé was in Chicago on Thursday night for the DNC - and now it's owning up to getting it wrong.

Published Fri, 23 Aug 2024 09:07:15 -0500

by Ray Flook

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I never thought I would ever write these words… but the Democratic Party proved this week with its national convention that it knows how to throw a party – and it knows how to get righteously angry. That brought us to the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Thursday when Vice-President Kamala Harris gets to speak to the convention hall – and the world – as she and Gov. Tim Walz prepare to take on ex-reality show host, multi-impeached ex-POTUS, and convicted felon Donald Trump, and the man who never met an awkward moment he didn't like, Sen. JD Vance. If you've been following the lead-up to both the convention and VP Harris' speech. then you know that there has been a ton of rumors, gossip, and speculation about who could be appearing and who could be endorsing. The rumblings reached ear-bleeding levels that day, and then a report hit that a block of time in the schedule was allotted to someone for something – but not a lot of folks knew what it was about. On the political side, names such as Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, former President George W. Bush, and former President Jimmy Carter were thrown into the conversation – but nothing about that felt big enough for the moment. But Beyoncé and/or Taylor Swift? That felt right…

Considering the superstar gave VP Harris free use of her catalog for campaigning and that "Freedom" has become the campaign's anthem (remember that roll-out video screened earlier this week during the convention), Beyoncé seemed like the obviously excellent choice – the superstar performing the song before VP Harris takes to the podium would be an epic visual. Having just wrapped the European leg of her "Eras Tour" and on a break until mid-October (when she rolls out for some "Eras Tour" dates stateside), Swift is reportedly back in the U.S. – a better place to be if you're going to endorse a candidate. Just as Beyoncé's endorsement makes the "BeyHive" a major factor in getting the vote out, an endorsement by Swift would be a call to arms for a whole lot of Swifties. And then… TMZ happened…

In defense of the news/gossip/rumor website, it definitely wasn't the one that started the overall buzz about Beyoncé attending and/or performing at the DNC – they just made the mistake of going on record publicly (and "exclusively") that the singer was was there and ready to go. "Beyoncé is in Chicago, and getting ready to pop out for Kamala Harris on the final night of the Democratic National Convention … TMZ has learned," the report read. "Multiple sources in the know tell us Queen Bey will be the big surprise performer as VP Harris officially accepts the Democratic party's nomination to run for president. As you'd expect, Beyoncé's appearance is a huge deal, not only for Harris and the Party but in Chicago as well. We're told Chicago PD is on high alert as it's involved in security for Beyoncé at the United Center arena."

Except… she didn't. And based on what the singer's representative had to share with The Hollywood Reporter exclusively, it was never supposed to happen: "Beyoncé was never scheduled to be there. The report of a performance is untrue." Oh, and there wasn't an appearance from Swift, either – but TMZ never went on record with that, so it gets to escape the blame. But the best part in all of this? Folks on social media didn't care because they knew that VP Harris was the "superstar" who deserved the biggest spotlight – and she nailed it and then some with her speech. But that didn't mean that TMZ and some other folks didn't end up taking it on the chin on social media over being oh so wrong. Maybe TMZ is one of those sites you can rely on when it comes to someone dying, being rushed to the ER, or getting into a fight – maybe not so much of a site to visit for updates on political conventions. But as you can see from the screencap above, at least the site owned it – quoting Beyoncé before noting, "We got this one wrong."

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