REUTERS
It was the best thing they never had.
After rumors swirled that Beyoncé would perform at Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Houston on Friday, fans were let down after the superstar failed to put on a show for the crowd of 30,000.
Instead, the 43-year-old “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer, a native of the Lone Star State, delivered a speech at Harris’ event, in which she endorsed the Veep in the 2024 presidential election.
The singer left the stage without performing — leaving critics to claim that Bey was snubbing the Democratic presidential nominee.
Instead, 91-year-old Willie Nelson performed for the crowd.
According to X posts quoted by Daily Mail, critics claimed rally-goers just wanted to “catch a free Beyoncé concert,” calling the lack of a performance “unbelievable.”
“So let me get this straight, Kamala Harris baited people with a free Beyoncé concert and then had Willie Nelson perform,” wrote one X user. “Talk about a bunch of pissed-off concert-goers.”
“She can’t even deliver on promises to her own followers with a Beyoncé performance, but yes she will totally close the border and stuff,” another critic said sarcastically.
“Last night Democrats promised voters a free Beyoncé concert to get them to show up but when they showed up they got a washed up Willie Nelson concert instead,” someone else snarked, alleging that it is a foreshadowing that the political party will “lie to gain power.”
During her speech, Beyoncé said that she was not appearing as a “celebrity” nor “politician.”
“I’m here as a mother, a mother who cares about the world our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we are not divided, our past or present or future,” the Grammy winner said.
“We’re all part of something much bigger. We must vote and we need you,” she continued in her address.
“Let’s do this. Ladies and gentlemen, give a big, loud Texas welcome to the next president of the United States, Kamala Harris.”
This is not the first star-studded appearance on Harris’ campaign trail.
The vice president was joined by Bruce Springsteen in Georgia and Eminem in Detroit, and has even received endorsements by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Taylor Swift, Leonardo DiCaprio and Sarah Jessica Parker.