DNC 2024 live: Beyonce to appear as mystery guest, report says

Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention! Let’s get caught up:

– Atmosphere in the convention center reaches fever pitch as Beyonce confirmed by reports as mystery guest.

– Members of the exonerated “Central Park Five” addressed the convention and blasted Donald Trump. Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson were joined by Reverend Al Sharpton.

– Vice President Kamala Harris will make the final speech of the night to accept the Democratic nomination for president. She is expected to discuss her upbringing and parents; plans to tackle social issues such as abortion; and deliver a blistering takedown of Donald Trump.

Actress Kerry Washington was joined onstage by Kamala Harris’ two young nieces.

The trio led the crowd in a call and response pronunciation of the vice president’s name, splitting the crowd into two – “comma” and “la.”

They were followed by another of Harris’ nieces, Meena Harris, Ella Emhoff – stepdaughter of the vice president – as well as Helena Hudlin, Harris’ Goddaughter.

A big cheer went up in the convention hall as NBA star and Olympic basketball champion Steph Curry appeared via video message, Andrew Feinberg reports.

Kamala Harris revealed one of her favorite songs in a recent episode of popular social media series Track Stars.

The vice president discussed jazz legend Miles Davis, Bay Area rapper Too Short, and Stevie Wonder, who she described as “a good friend.”

“This is the most music I’ve listened to in a while,” Harris said, adding that she’s been “a bit busy” recently.

Towards the end of the episode she was asked about a song she thought everyone should know about. Harris said that Everybody Loves The Sunshine by Roy Ayers, was “one of my favorites.”

Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of congress, from Florida, addressed the DNC.

The 27-year-old used his remarks to draw attention to issues that mattered to younger generations, including climate change.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary, is now adressing the DNC.

Beyonce will be the mystery performer at the final night of the DNC, according to reports.

Multiple outlets reported that the multi-Grammy award winning artist will perform at the convention in Chicago as VP Harris officially accepts the Democratic party’s nomination to run for president.

Harris has previously used Beyonce’s hit song Freedom at her campaign rallies.

When five Black and Latino teenagers were wrongly convicted of the rape of a jogger in New York City’s Central Park in 1989, he bought a full-page statement in The New York Daily News on 1 May, 1989, titled “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!”

“I want to hate these murderers and I always will,” he wrote in 1989. “I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, I am looking to punish them.”

He has since refused to recant or apologize for those statements. Their convictions were vacated in 2002, and the city paid $41 million in 2014 to settle a civil rights lawsuit.

One of those teens, Yusef Salaam, now 50, spent nearly seven years in prison for his wrongful conviction. Last year, he was recently elected to New York’s City Council, representing Harlem.

He is now on the stage at the DNC — endorsing the woman running against the man who wanted him jailed.

Salaam is joined by three of the other exonerated men from the case: Korey Wise, Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson.

Reverend Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader who advocated for the men, introduced them as “the exonerated five.”