Chicago– When Barack Obama accepted his presidential nomination at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Jennifer Lopez was in town, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner attended the proceedings together, and Kanye West performed at an Obama campaign event.
Four conventions later, a lot is different in Hollywood — but the elite’s enthusiasm for the party’s presidential ticket remains the same.
Not since the Obama era has celebrity enthusiasm been this high, as the worlds of pop culture and politics blended as the race for the Democratic nomination kicked off in Chicago this week.
John Legend, who performed at the 2008 and 2020 conventions, is set to headline a performance Tuesday for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. On Wednesday afternoon, “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus will host a panel discussion with the nation’s eight Democratic female governors. On Wednesday night, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts will perform at a benefit concert put on by the Creative Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for gay rights in Hollywood. A-listers including Tim Daly, Uzo Aduba, Anthony Anderson, Iain Armitage, Yvette Nicole Brown, David Cross, Jon Cryer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Danai Gurira, Richard Kind, Busy Philipps and Sheryl Lee Ralph are also expected to attend.
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Multiple sources told CNN that the high-profile speakers are still being selected, adding that a range of actors will speak on the conference’s main stage. But speculation has swirled around two stars in particular: Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
With no headliners announced, fans of Beyoncé and Swift are hoping the two women — who supported the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020 — will make an appearance in Chicago.
Representatives for Swift and Beyoncé did not respond to CNN’s multiple requests for comment.
Spokespeople for the Democratic National Committee and the Harris campaign did not comment on the rumors surrounding the two big stars.
CNN previously reported that Beyoncé gave Harris an early nod by allowing the vice president to use her song “Freedom” in Harris’ campaign — so it’s not out of the question that Beyoncé could perform the song in person.
Beyoncé has a long history of singing for Democratic politicians. In 2013, she sang the national anthem at Obama’s inauguration. In 2016, she and her husband Jay-Z performed at a Hillary Clinton campaign rally in Cleveland, where her backup dancers wore blue suits in honor of the woman who would have been the first female president of the United States.
Now, with another potential female president on the list, will Queen B take the stage?
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Swift, who has not yet announced whether she will run for president of the United States during the current election cycle, is set to perform five concerts in London as part of the finale of her European tour, the Eras Tour. Swift wraps up her Wembley shows on Tuesday, the second day of the convention, which theoretically means she could be in Chicago by Wednesday for the final two nights.
Swift recently sparked fan theories that she had actually endorsed Harris when a silhouette of a woman appeared on stage behind her as if to represent the vice president. But CNN debunked that theory last week, reporting that the silhouette in question was one of Swift’s background singers.
Swift’s army of fans never misses a beat, and this week’s convention will be no different. Even without Swift, her fans will feel her presence in Chicago.
As part of the convention’s public “DemPalooza” events and training, the Democratic National Committee announced that there will be spaces where participants can make friendship bracelets. The beaded bracelets are often passed around among Swift’s fans at her concerts — inspired by the lyrics to the song “You’re on Your Own, Kid” from the singer’s “Midnights” album.
There’s also Swifties for Kamala, a large coalition of Swift fans who mobilized online the night President Joe Biden dropped out of the race to endorse Harris in July. Swift is not affiliated with the group.
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The Harris campaign has been in touch, said Irene Kim, one of the group’s founders. “They reached out to us and asked how they could support our initiative,” Kim told CNN. The group received an invitation through the Democratic National Committee’s Creator Initiative, but she won’t be able to come to Chicago, Kim said.
“We look forward to partnering with the campaign going forward to continue harnessing this excitement and helping new people volunteer or even vote for the first time,” Carly Long, the group’s director of external communications, told CNN.
Earlier this month, convention organizers announced they would be tapping more than 200 content creators to cover the event, a strategic effort to reach younger voters via social media — and an acknowledgement by the Harris campaign of how the political influencer landscape has changed dramatically.
While A-listers (especially the likes of Swift or Beyoncé) are making waves, the definition of celebrity is evolving. The attendees will be high-profile stars, but perhaps more importantly, the crowd is likely to break social media records in the convention hall.
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