Hollywood in Chicago: Stars to hit up the Windy City amidst rumours of Taylor Swift and Beyonce
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The Democratic National Convention is set to be a glittery affair this year, with stars set to descend on Chicago to back the Harris-Walz presidential campaign throughout the week-long event.
“All of Me” singer John Legend is set to headline a show on Tuesday for Illinois governor JB Pritzker, while Veep and Seinfeld actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus will be hosting a panel with America’s eight female Democratic governors.
Also performing is rock band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, kicking off at a benefit concert thrown by the Creative Coalition, a Hollywood nonprofit advocacy group.
Actors set to host at the convention include Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling, Tony Goldwyn and Ana Navarro, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Other names viewers and attendees can keep their eyes peeled for reportedly include Tim Daly, Uzo Aruba, Anthony Anderson, Iain Armitage, Yvette Nicole Brown, David Cross, Jon Cryer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Danai Gurira, Richard Kind, Busy Philipps and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
It’s sure to be a star-studded week. But there are two names creating by far the most buzz.
You guessed it: Taylor Swift and Beyonce.
With no major performer announced yet, Swifties and Queen B fans are hoping to see the stars at the DNC.
Although neither the DNC nor the stars’ representatives confirmed the women would be performing, according to CNN, fans are keeping their fingers crossed.
Both endorsed the Biden-Harris campaign in 2020, but neither have officially voiced support for Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election.
That being said, Beyonce did give Harris permission to use her hit song “Freedom” in a video of the Vice President’s first official visit to her campaign’s headquarters – a rarely-bestowed honor.
Meanwhile, Trump has been slated for using music without artists’ authorization, including Adele and, more recently, Celine Dion.
“Really, THAT song?” the Canadian legend wrote on social media upon learning Trump played her classic My Heart Will Go On – best known from the movie Titanic – at one of his campaign rallies.
Her team followed this up in 10 August with a statement castigating him for “unauthorized usage” of the track, saying “Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use.”
Swift has often avoided entering political discussion, earning her both praise and criticism during the early stages of her career.
While appearing on Late Show with David Letterman in 2012, Swift explained: “I feel like, at 22, it’s my right to vote, but it’s not my right to tell other people what to do.”
However, she has been changing her tune over the years, revealing in 2012 that she voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and making her first political endorsement for Democratic congressional candidates in her home state of Tennessee in 2018.
Most damningly, she vowed to vote Trump out of office in 2020, essentially cementing her vote for Joe Biden, who she officially endorsed later that year.
Understandably, the star is busy with her jam-packed Eras Tour, which has two more London shows scheduled this week.
However, that will mark the start of a nearly three-month break, with the next show being in Toronto on 14 November.
That meansThe Tortured Poets Department singer could theoretically speed to the Windy City in time to play in the final days of the DNC, which is also when Harris will formally accept the Democratic nomination for president.
Avid social media star watchers can also look out for their favourite content creators, as the DNC Committee announced it will credential more than 200 content creators to cover the convention to reach “more Americans than ever before.”
