It’s Democratic National Convention week, and unlike with the RNC, there were actual A-listers pulling up to Chicago’s United Center. Kamala Harris didn’t have Hulk Hogan to rip his shirt off in support, but she did have celebrities like Kerry Washington and Mindy Kaling in her corner. We spent the week keeping tabs on which stars rolled through to get a selfie with Doug Emhoff or do the “Apple” dance with Tim Walz. Let’s hop into it!
Kerry Washington
Washington hosted the final night of the convention and successfully hyped up the crowd before Harris’s speech. At one point, she asked everyone to take out their phones to capture the moment, and her Scandal co-star Tony Goldwyn rushed out to deliver hers. All I can say about these two is that Olitz shippers continue to be fed six years after Scandal’s finale.
Tony Goldwyn
Shonda Rhimes was putting something in the water on the set of Scandal, because why is Goldwyn also obsessed with Democratic politics? Goldwyn hosted Monday night, when President Joe Biden took the stage. In his remarks, Goldwyn unlocked his President Grant energy to rally the crowd and explain what the rest of the convention would look like. Which do you think came first: the oratory skills or playing a president on TV?
Mindy Kaling
Kaling spoke on Wednesday night and brought the lightest touch of all the hosts so far. “The real reason I’m here is that deep down, I truly believe that as a woman of color and a single mother of three, it is incredibly important that I be appointed ambassador to Italy,” Kaling said in her opening remarks. Later, as she addressed her home state of Massachusetts, she even touched on the Bennifer split.
Ana Navarro
The View host and former Republican hosted on Tuesday night. In her speech, Navarro compared Trump to Communist dictators in South America and said that Harris would be a good president because her dog likes her. “We cannot elect a president who does not like dogs or hangs around with people who shoot them,” Navarro said, referencing South Dakota governor Kristi Noem’s story about killing her hunting dog.
The Obamas
Barack and Michelle appeared on Tuesday with her speaking first followed by him in the last spot of the night.
As expected, both Obamas delivered incredibly rousing speeches. Michelle got in a great jab at Trump’s “Black jobs” comment from earlier in the summer, while Barack made a dick joke.
Mickey Guyton
The musical theme of Monday night was “Yeah, we have country singers too!” Guyton performed “All American,” a song that seems like it was written with the specific intent of being performed at the DNC. “We got the same stars, the same stripes / Just wanna live that good life / Ain’t we all, ain’t we all American,” Guyton asks in the song. Shout-out to whoever made this pick.
Jason Isbell
Continuing on the country theme, Isbell performed on Monday as well, singing “Something More Than Free.” The song is about a man who works so hard that he can’t go to church on Sunday morning — not exactly what I would have picked for the occasion, but he sounded good.
Patti LaBelle
Did you know that they have an “In Memoriam” segment at the DNC? Apparently, they do, and they had LaBelle sing “You Are My Friend” while the names of every important Democrat to die in the past four years appeared on the screen behind her.
Common
A DNC in Chicago? Yeah, Common was always going to show up. On Tuesday, the rapper was joined by gospel singer Jonathan McReynolds to perform “Fortunate.”
Lil Jon
On Tuesday, there was a ceremonial roll call at the convention. Each state got to pick which song played while it cast its votes for Harris and Walz. The musical aspect turned the event into something of a party with DJ Cassidy spinning a new track for each state. When they got to Georgia, Lil Jon came out and transformed “Turn Down for What” into “Turn Out for What.”
If that wasn’t enough, he also switched up the chorus of “Get Low.” Originally, I’m sure you’ll recall, the song goes, “To the window, to the wall!” Well, at the DNC, that became: “VP Harris, Governor Walz!” It’s not a perfect fit, but it did the job.
Sean Astin
Since Michael Jackson died, Indiana has not really had a major celebrity that it could bring to events like these. Instead, it brought California native Sean Astin, who played an Indiana native in Rudy. Astin was also on Stranger Things, which takes place in a fictional Indiana town. Close enough!
Eva Longoria
This is how you use your time efficiently. In ten seconds, Longoria introduced herself as a Texan and Corpus Christi native, reminded us that Selena Quintanilla was also from there and then introduced former Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards.
Longoria got a prime-time speaking slot on Thursday, and she led the crowd in a “She se puede” chant.
Spike Lee
If New York is being represented somewhere, Spike Lee is going to be there.
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder made a call for unity on Wednesday night before launching into a rousing performance of “Higher Ground.” The man’s still got it!
John Legend
Much like Kerry Washington and Common, John Legend loves to support a Democrat. On Wednesday, he performed Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” with Sheila E. ahead of Tim Walz’s speech. The theme is Minnesota, get it?
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah was a surprise speaker on Wednesday, returning to Chicago to encourage voters to “choose joy” by voting for Harris. The former TV host made reference to the whole “childless cat lady” thing, and whoever was directing that night decided one random woman should become the face of childless cat ladies.
Turns out that woman was cool with it, though. Good on her.
Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson brought prop comedy to the convention, and it went about as well as it sounds. Thompson had a physical copy of Project 2025 — “you ever seen a document that could kill a small document and democracy at the same time?” — and flipped through it as he spoke with voters who would be directly impacted by the plan. I think Lorne would have cut this at dress rehearsal.
Amanda Gorman
The 26-year-old poet made her DNC debut on Wednesday, sharing a poem she had written for the event. “We face a race that tests if this country we cherish / Shall perish from the earth / And if our earth shall perish from this country / It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall / For a people that cannot stand together, cannot stand at all,” she recited.
The Chicks
Do I wish that “The Chicks are singing the national anthem” meant “The Chicks are singing ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’”? Yeah, I do. But this is nice too.
Pink
Sadly, Pink left the contraption that allows her to do flips through a stadium at home. Instead, she performed a stripped-down version of “What About Us” alongside her daughter, Willow. Cute!
Not Beyoncé
Womp, womp. After lots of speculation (and even a TMZ report!) saying that Beyoncé was going to be Thursday night’s surprise guest, she never showed. Maybe it’s for the best — was Harris supposed to go on after Beyoncé? She’s confident, but I don’t know if anyone has that kind of confidence.
This post has been updated.
