A week after Beyoncé appeared at a rally for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in the singer’s hometown of Houston, the Democratic candidate’s rival Donald Trump still seemed focused on the 32-time Grammy winner’s full-throated endorsement of the sitting Vice President.
Taking the stage in an orange and yellow safety vest on Wednesday (Oct. 30) in Green Bay, WI, the twice impeached former President told the crowd, “four nights ago they got Beyoncé… uhhhh Beyoncé,” as he paused while audience appeared to boo the singer who has sold more than 350 million records as a solo act and with Destiny’s Child. “They got Beyoncé,” he sighed a second time. “We don’t need Beyoncé, we don’t need anybody… all you got is me, and I don’t have a guitar.”
The Harris campaign reposted the Beyoncé-bashing moment, which came on the same day that convicted felon Trump rolled out a bizarre attack on Pres. Joe Biden that found the former reality TV star climbing into a Trump-branded garbage truck and riding around in circles on an airport tarmac while wearing the vest. The stunt appeared to be the Trump campaign’s attempt to capitalize on a gaffe by Pres. Biden, who caused a stir on Tuesday night when he seemed to compare Trump’s supporters to garbage while commenting on a racist joke made at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally earlier this week in which the comedian compared Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.”
The White House quickly tried to do damage control by clarifying that Biden was referring to the sexist, racist attacks launched by a series of speakers at Trump’s MSG rally on Sunday, not Trump’s supporters; the event also included an off-color joke by the same comedian that Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce could be the “next O.J. Simpson,” a remark that disgusted Swifties. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said in a video of his controversial remarks. “His, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
The offensive comments at the Trump rally quickly resulted in a number of Puerto Rican born superstars endorsing Harris, including Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez — whose parents were born on the island nation — as well as reggaetón legend Don Omar, who endorsed Harris on Tuesday. In addition, Nicky Jam rescinded his previous Trump endorsement on Wednesday and lined up behind Harris.
The Beyoncé mention at the rally where Trump once again vowed to the the “protector of women” — even, as he added, “whether the women like it or not” — was coupled with Trump bragging that “we don’t need Beyoncé.” Though the Harris campaign never said that the R&B legend would sing at the Houston event, Trump told the Green Bay crowd, “They said, ladies and gentlemen, they said Beyoncé’s coming to sing and she came but she didn’t sing. And then Kamala came on as Beyoncé was leaving without singing even one song and they booed the hell out of both of them”; there is no evidence supporting his claim that the 30,000-plus Harris supporters booed Beyoncé’s appearance.
“I’m not here as a celebrity,” Bey told the Houston audience in her introduction of Harris. “I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother. A mother who cares, deeply, about the world my children and all of our children live in. A world where we have the freedom to control our bodies. A world where we’re not divided. Our past, our present, our future merge to meet us here.”
Trump frequently denigrates A-listers who either don’t support him or who line up behind his rivals, and he continues to seem peeved at the many music stars who’ve endorsed Harris, an increasingly long roster that includes Bruce Springsteen, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Finneas, Barbra Streisand, Cardi B, Charli XCX, Cher, Eminem, Katy Perry, Megan Thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo and many more. Early on in Harris’ 11th-hour bid, Beyoncé gave her permission to use the 2016 track “Freedom” as the campaign’s theme song; the singer’s camp then sent a cease-and-desist to the Trump campaign in August after it used the song in a social media video that was later deleted from campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung’s X account.
And, after Taylor Swift endorsed Harris last month following what experts deemed the VP’s decisive win in the single debate Trump agreed to, the 78-year-old former President posted an all-caps response reading, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.”
See Trump’s crowd boo Beyoncé below.
