Breathless reports that Beyoncé would perform at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night turned out to be complete baloney.
TMZ cited “multiple sources” in its report claiming “Queen Bey will be the big surprise performer” at the event in Chicago, only to later admit: “We got this one wrong.” The Hill was similarly led astray by its sources, one of whom had even gone so far as claiming they’d personally seen “Beyoncé in Chicago.”
A representative for the iconic musician eventually shut the whole thing down. “Beyoncé was never scheduled to be there,” the rep told The Hollywood Reporter. “The report of a performance is untrue.”
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The feverish expectations hadn’t just been fueled by celebrity gossip sites and Beltway publications, though. On X, several influential Democrat-leaning accounts also helped to fan the flames.
The “Angry Staffer” account, which has over 600,000 followers, wrote in a since-deleted tweet they’d been “sworn to secrecy, but you don’t want to miss the DNC tonight.” “If you thought the Oprah surprise was big, just wait,” they added, referring to Winfrey’s unexpected appearance at the convention Wednesday.
The account later apologized for the post and confirmed “Beyoncé was the rumor.” “I’m not sure where it started, but the people who told me aren’t prone to hyperbole,” they said. “I don’t like giving bad information, and that’s on me. Mea culpa.”
That apology was echoed by the X account of the “Mueller, She Wrote,” podcast, which on Thursday posted to its almost 800,000-strong army of followers: “DNC TEA: apparently, Beyoncé has arrived at the United Center.”
Reposting the Angry Staffer apology, Mueller, She Wrote shared their own “Mea Culpa.” “The sources for this were extremely credible (including MSNBC and the USSS.) But we were there for Kamala, and WOW did she deliver.”
MSNBC contributor Katie Phang had tweeted to say she was “hearing that @Beyonce has arrived at the United Center,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Just wanted to let folks know I deleted the tweet about Beyoncé from last night,” Phang wrote in another post Friday morning. “It didn’t meet with our standards for reporting and despite it being shared in good faith, getting it accurate is more important.”
Former Obama administration official Brandon Friedman shared his own analysis of how the rumor spread, pointing to a tweet about a “gap in tonight’s DNC schedule” for a “special guest” which was viewed millions of times on X. White House Political Director Emmy Ruiz later tweeted a bee emoji, a symbol used by diehard Beyoncé fans online.
The person who tweeted about the purported schedule gap later acknowledged their post “didn’t age well” and that the reports were “a hoax,” while Ruiz had quickly followed up on her bee tweet with: “Sorry guys my 6 year old took my phone.”
Some people were so confident in the truth of the Beyoncé rumor they were willing to put money on it.
On Polymarket—a prediction market where gamblers can bet on political events—bettors believed, at one point Thursday, there was a 98 percent chance Beyoncé would perform at the DNC.
