Sources Reveal What Really Happened Leading Up to Beyoncé’s Appearance at Kamala Harris’ Houston Rally

by Xara Aziz
Annie Mulligan/AP Photo

A new NBC News report is revealing a behind the scenes look into the role celebrities played in former Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign leading up to the 2024 presidential elections.

According to the report, on the day Beyoncé joined Kamala Harris on stage in Houston in October, “the plan changed like 20 times that day, and they landed on her singing ‘Freedom’ a cappella before Harris walked on stage,” a source familiar with the campaign and Beyoncé’s team.

A Beyoncé appearance was a major get—she was a global icon, and “Freedom” fit perfectly as the campaign’s theme song. But she wouldn’t offer Harris what a Rogan interview could: a chance to step outside her comfort zone and connect with a new audience.

To make matters worse, Beyoncé didn’t perform. She spoke, but she didn’t sing.

The campaign kept its composure, but the reality was clear—they had played a losing hand. Meanwhile, according to the report, Trump sat down for a three-hour interview with celebrity podcaster Joe Rogan, a conversation that quickly went viral. The contrast, one Harris aide admitted, was a “traumatic event” they would “never forget.”

And the fallout didn’t end there. Rogan later blamed the missed opportunity on Harris refusing to appear on his show, accusing her of dodging a discussion about marijuana—despite her platform supporting legalization.

In a final attempt to make it happen, Harris aides offered Rogan a sit-down in Washington, D.C., the day after a major campaign speech outside the White House. But according to the report, Rogan’s team turned them down.

Last April, Shine My Crown reported that a recent poll revealed Harris’s popularity was nearly on par with that of Beyoncé. According to the April omnibus survey conducted by Echelon Insight, 43% of voters held a favorable view of Harris, while 45% felt the same about Beyoncé. Despite this near equivalence, the vice president faced twice as much unfavorable opinion, with 52% compared to Beyoncé’s 26%.

Throughout President Biden’s tenure, Harris, the first female, Black American, and Asian-American vice president, has grappled with fluctuating approval ratings. Despite starting with a 48% approval rating, Harris experienced a decline in mid-September 2021, just eight months into office, and her approval has remained below water since then, according to polling averages from FiveThirtyEight. In March, a Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll found only 35% approval for Harris, while a Suffolk University/USAToday survey showed 36% approval, with disapproval ratings at 46% and 52%, respectively.

The latest Echelon poll indicates Harris’s popularity is particularly strong among Black voters, with nearly seven-in-ten viewing her favorably, compared to fewer than half of Hispanic and Asian voters. Among white voters, less than four-in-ten hold favorable views of Harris.

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