Who was it then? Who was the original Beyonce Hypeman? Who started the party by claiming that there would be a live performance of Freedom.
Chairman of the DNC Jaime Harrison and Congress Chairman Minyon Moore could not contain the speculation in interviews on Tuesday. “Texas Hold’ Em” rang out through the convention hall.
A DNC representative refused to deny an appearance to the Daily Beast on Thursday, and two media outlets – The Hill and TMZ – even reported on it.
Hours and hours passed before The Hollywood Reporter ripped the Band-Aid off: She wasn’t coming. TMZ admitted on X that they had misrepresented the story, and The Hill’s article link now leads to a 404 page.
Sorry to all single (cat) ladies
At Crooked Media and Cari And Michael Sacks‘ Afterparty at The Salt Shed, attendees munched on burrata and miso mushroom deep-dish pizza (Daily Beast rating: 6/10, although every pizza was better than the one in the CNNPolitico Grill) and hopped to Taylor Swift And Chappell Roan songs while they mourned the absence of Beyoncé. That was when they were waiting for a actually promised musical guest—Brandi Carlile. (Governor of Illinois) JB Pritzker came to introduce her, two days after his Tuesday party there with John Legend. I guess he can’t get enough of this place.)
“I was waiting for a big reveal, like, ‘Who will it be?'” said Anthony Polcari, the 25-year-old consultant, better known as Tony P who caused a stir in political circles earlier this year by documenting that he was a 25-year-old bachelor in DC. (Apparently a low bar in the capital.)
Others felt the DNC should have said something long before the vice president’s appearance. “They should have made it clear earlier,” the comedian said Matt Friend he said near the Salt Shed’s Bar.
He compared it to his stand-up show. “If I’m an entertainer, I want to know what’s going on in my show,” he said, before joking in his Donald Trump impersonation that the Daily Beast might twist his words. (Matt, you’re our employee, how could we? And maybe you could have done Beyoncé yourself?)
Deputy Campaign Manager Rob Flaherty, wore the typical Harris-Walz camouflage hat and did not want to talk about it anything while sipping his drink at the Crooked party.
Madly in Love (with Gus)
Gwen Walz headlined a fundraising brunch for women for Harris-Walz at Chicago’s colorful Carnivale on Thursday afternoon – but it was her children who received the loudest applause. Hundreds of women applauded as the First Lady of Minnesota Hope from the backstage area. But they clapped even louder when she mentioned her neurodiverse son, Gus17, whose emotional reaction to his father’s speech the night before had triggered an attack Ann Coulter among other things.
“I’ll tell him he got a lot of applause, and he’ll ask me, ‘More than hope?'” Walz predicted. “I’ll say, ‘It was even!'”
Gwen Walz headlined a benefit brunch for “Women for Harris-Walz” at Carnivale in Chicago.
Mini rascals
She wears a neon yellow off-the-shoulder dress, Ana Navarro began to sing, “We love Gus!” while the First Lady of Minnesota nodded. Walz’s microphone was apparently turned off, but she mouthed “Thank you.” Navarro did not hold her dog ChaChaalthough the puppy had just been in the arms of the political commentator who was not going to miss out on a “brunch full of tough crap”.
In the crowd, celebrities like Uma Thurman mixed with political content creators. Author Glennon Doyle and her wife, football player Abby Wambachtook photos with the participants.
Model and TV presenter Padma Lakshmi had some poignant words about Trump’s attacks on immigrants. “Has he forgotten who built this country?” she asked. “Or that his grandfather and two of his three wives are immigrants? Such d—. I’m not running for office, I can say it, but we all think it.”
More than a dozen female members of Congress were present, including a senator from Illinois. Tammy Duckworth, Republic of Georgia. Lucy McBaththe loudly cheered Californian congressman. Maxine Waterand congressman from Florida. Lois Frankel, who joked: “We love cats.”
Attendees dined on pork belly arepas, vegetarian breakfast tortas, and chocolate-covered bacon. They drank Madam Chiefs (blood orange juice, Ketel One Peach & Orange Blossom Vodka, and a blood orange garnish) and Waltz Spritzes (rose, grapefruit, and ginger beer).
Ring the alarm all night
After the president’s inauguration, the young progressives were definitely at the House of Blues, where Voto Latino held its El Party on Thursday night. Together and was briefly accompanied by Rosario Dawson.
Later, Cimafunk entered the stage. He was there on drums, the congressman from Florida. Maxwell Frostthe first member of Congress from Generation Z, while the friends he celebrated with, including activist and influencer Deja Foxxdanced with him on stage.
A congressman from Minnesota was also in the crowd. Ilhan Omarformer Minister of Housing and Urban Development and former presidential candidate Julian Castro and his identical twin, the Texas congressman. Joaquin CastroChairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapaland congressman from Texas. Greg Carr.
The event’s signature drinks were Sol (coconut rum, cranberry and pineapple) and Luna (tequila, triple sec, sour.) (Daily Beast rating: Sol, 7/10, Luna, skipped.) In addition to a buffet that was just closing when the Daily Beast arrived, servers carried trays of desserts and mini pizza slices. (Daily Beast rating: Pizza, 10/10.)
When the doors closed at 2 a.m., guests were still trying to get in
I was here
Cornel Westin the United Center media series as a guest of the talk show host Tavis SmileyWest said he found it “wonderful to see people’s enthusiasm,” but “if it doesn’t have a deep, moral and spiritual quality, it becomes a little too superficial.”
What does he think about RFK Jr. to end his candidacy for a third party? “I heard Brother Kennedy might support Brother Kennedy Trump,” West said. “It’s sick, it’s ridiculous, but that’s his decision. People have the right to choose.”
Former CNN bureau chief in Washington, DC and future C-SPAN chief Sam Feist Chatting with the ex-C-SPAN boss I’m Steve Scully.
Wolf Blitzer, without Wolf Spritzer, and munched on Homer’s Vanilla Ice Cream, the Chicago classic (he said it was great).
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell at 6:30pm CST at dinner with her two daughters who were attending her first conference. She kindly chose not to talk about it Katie Couric‘S Just Commentary criticizing her network for excluding her from the Evening news and replace them with three men.
Former Chicago Bulls player Joakim Noahtook selfies with fans and wore a suit in the colors of his home team.
Representative from Wisconsin. Mark Pocan He wolfed down nachos while gushing about Governor Walz to the Daily Beast. “He’s kind of the anti-Vance, right? Vance is like that — the little bit of eye makeup and all that stuff — you couldn’t be more outgoing with anyone in Wisconsin, and he couldn’t be more outgoing.”
I miss you
The Joe Scarboroughwho never made it to Chicago to see the Democratic Party abandon Biden. This also meant he could not end or continue his feud with Pod Save Americas Tommy Vietor, who sharply attacked Scarborough after the moderator repeatedly tried to support Biden last month.
Vietor told the Daily Beast he bears no grudges.
“I don’t know Joe personally, I have nothing against him,” he said. “He has a relationship with Joe Biden. Politics is personal. I understand where he’s coming from. We didn’t want to take it personally, it’s just about the future of the country.”
Get me the body
Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy confronted CNN’s Van Jones backstage at the DNC on Thursday, claiming he received death threats after Jones called the former CEO and current presidential hopeful a “demagogue.”
“For the first time in the campaign, we received a death threat from a man who wanted to show up in New Hampshire,” Ramaswamy said. “Fortunately, the police caught him.” The next day, he added, security forces reportedly informed Ramaswamy that a person had shown up at his home with “four bodies.”
In December 2023, after Ramaswamy’s appearance at the fourth Republican primary debate, Jones said, “You are witnessing the rise of an American demagogue who is a very, very despicable person.” The former presidential candidate initially responded to Jones’ joke by telling him to “just shut up.”
The CNN commentator apologized for his comments during the DNC confrontation, to which Ramaswamy responded, “I hope we can build a friendship. I really mean that.”
