Megyn Kelly thinks the false rumors about Beyoncé performing Thursday at the Democratic National Convention originated with the DNC itself as a ploy to boost the ratings.
Though there were persistent rumors and reports about the superstar, the DNC never actually made any announcement. But on Friday’s episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the host poked fun at the media frenzy that built up when speculation began on who a rumored surprise guest for the final night of the Democratic National Convention could be.
“This is why I think they released the lie about Beyonce allegedly showing up at the event last night,” she said. “They wanted to boost ratings. That would be absolutely stupid to say she’s coming when you know she’s not coming, if it didn’t have a real purpose.”
Kelly continued, “why would you say ,’We almost got her and we didn’t,’ and just disappoint everybody? But it does make sense if your goal is to boost the numbers… I think the whole ‘Beyonce is coming, she’s not coming,’ thing was a ruse to boost the ratings.”
She then likened the many journalists in attendance for the convention tweeting updates and hopes like a prom hopeful waiting for a date that isn’t going to show. She specifically singled out MSNBC’s Katie Phang.
“Katie Phang over at MSNBC, absolutely humiliated herself with these moment to moment updates… she just deleted them,” Kelly said. “She’s deleted her tweets out of humiliation… All I could think is the girl at the high school prom, like ‘He’s still coming. He’ll be here. I see a headlight.’ No, she’s not coming.”
Rumors of an unannounced special guest began circulating on social Thursday morning. Names like Taylor Swift, Mitt Romney, and even former President George W. Bush.
The origin of this rumor is at the moment not known for certain, but one early proponent is an X user named “Angry Staffer” who claimed, “I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but you don’t want to miss the DNC tonight. If you thought the Oprah surprise was big, just wait.”
Eventually, TMZ reported it as fact that this surprise was Beyoncé. After she failed to appear, TMZ apologized on X for the false rumor.
“To quote the great Beyonce: We gotta lay our cards down, down, down … we got this one wrong,” they posted.
Phang later stated that sources within the DNC had told her Beyonce was “in the building.” The Hill also reported that sources, implied to be within the DNC, confirmed the singer would appear.
Watch the full Megyn Kelly clip below.
