From pop music to Hollywood, Kamala Harris’ presidential bid gets celebrity roll-out online

WASHINGTON – Within hours of

United States President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek re-election

and would instead endorse US Vice-President Kamala Harris, social media exploded with support from the pop music world.

As concerns about Mr Biden’s electability have accelerated in recent months, Ms Harris, 59, with a big, diverse family, seems to have energised digitally engaged voters in a way that Mr Biden did not.

Fans quickly started posting remixes on TikTok that incorporated audio from Ms Harris’ speeches, along with her laugh, into songs by performers Charli XCX, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Chappell Roan, Mitski and Kim Petras.

The snippet most often used is from a speech Ms Harris gave in May 2023.

She was addressing the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics and recalled an adage from her mother: “She would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’”

After pausing to laugh, Ms Harris added: “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

The combination of a coconut emoji and a palm tree emoji has become shorthand to refer to Ms Harris’ campaign.

Singer Charli XCX, in a nod to her latest album Brat (2024) – and its signature green album cover that has become a Gen Z emblem of the summer – set the tone on July 21 by posting: “kamala IS brat.”

On the social platform X, the official Harris campaign account updated its header to match the distinctive lime green colour and typography of the album.

Singer Kesha used the “coconut” quotation to open a pair of posts on TikTok, in which she takes a beat after the word “tree” before breaking into dance.

Pop star Katy Perry, whose song Roar featured prominently in Mrs Hillary Clinton’s US presidential campaign in 2016, posted a montage of videos of Ms Harris soundtracked by a remix that integrated the “coconut” quotation and clips of Ms Harris laughing into her new single Woman’s World (2024). “It’s a woman’s world, and you’re lucky to be living in it,” she sings.

On July 21, rapper Cardi B reposted a selfie video recorded on June 30, in which she says, in an extended and profane message, that Ms Harris should have been the Democratic nominee all along.

“Been told y’all Kamala should’ve been the 2024 candidate,” she wrote in the caption. “Y’all be trying to play the Bronx education, baby this what I do!”

Meanwhile, singers Beyonce and Solange’s mother Tina Knowles posted a photo of herself and Ms Harris with a caption that began with, “New, youthful, sharp, energy!”

Other entertainers have thrown their weight behind Ms Harris, who will face former US president Donald Trump if she is the nominee.

Singer Janelle Monae posted on her Instagram story a simple “I’m in”, and singer John Legend, who praised Mr Biden at length, said of Ms Harris: “She’s ready for this fight.”

Relief and excitement also spread across Los Angeles – the world’s film and television capital and an important source of Democrats’ campaign funds – following Mr Biden’s decision to end his re-election campaign on July 21.

Lost (2004 to 2010) producer Damon Lindelof said he had halted what he called a “Dembargo” – a call for Hollywood backers to stop donating money to Democrats – after Mr Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June.

Lindelof, writing on Instagram, said he felt “profound relief, gratitude... and then, for the first time, genuine excitement for the election ahead” after Mr Biden’s withdrawal.

“Suffice to say, the dembargo is lifted. And here. We. Gooooooooooo,” Lindelof added.

Hollywood often is described as an “ATM for Democrats”. A June fund-raising event hosted by actor George Clooney and actress Julia Roberts raised more than US$30 million (S$40 million) in what the Biden campaign said was the largest Democratic fund-raising event in history.

But after Mr Biden’s halting performance at the June 27 presidential debate against Trump, Clooney and others publicly called for the president to end his campaign.

Lindelof did not back a particular Democratic candidate, but others in Hollywood threw their support behind Ms Harris.

“We are all in for Kamala Harris! Started to work on her behalf the moment she announced,” Mr Andy Spahn, a Democratic fund-raiser in Hollywood and president of consulting firm Gonring, Lin, Spahn, said via e-mail.

Disney heiress Abigail Disney, who had called on Mr Biden to drop out, told CNBC she was resuming her donations to Democrats and that she thought Ms Harris would be an excellent candidate.

“I’m with her,” actor Bradley Whitford, who played a fictional White House staff member on TV show The West Wing (1999 to 2006), wrote on X, next to a picture of himself with his arm around Ms Harris.

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, the Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for the film Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), said she supported Mr Biden’s decision to endorse Ms Harris.

Actress-singer Barbra Streisand said Ms Harris “will continue Joe Biden’s work and will be a great president”.

Dr Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst and co-host of the podcast Inside Golden State Politics, said she expected Ms Harris to receive strong financial support from Hollywood.

One reason is that Ms Harris’ husband, former entertainment lawyer Doug Emhoff, “is very well-liked and respected” in the industry.

“The floodgates will open,” Dr Jeffe said.

Several black women in Hollywood backed Ms Harris, who would be the first black woman to serve as US president if she were to win the November presidential election.

Grey’s Anatomy (2005 to present) and Scandal (2012 to 2018) creator Shonda Rhimes posted a photo of herself standing next to Ms Harris and offered her endorsement.

“I stood behind her in 2016 when she ran for Senate, I was behind her when she ran as @vp and I continue to stand behind her today,” Rhimes wrote on Instagram.

Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis quoted black civil rights leader and Democratic politician Barbara Jordan’s 1977 Harvard commencement speech on Instagram.

“What people want is simple. They want an America as good as its promise,” Davis wrote beside a picture of Mr Biden and Ms Harris walking together and laughing.

“I’m with her!” Davis added with a black fist emoji and blue hearts.

Abbott Elementary (2021 to present) actress Sheryl Lee Ralph posted a photo of herself beside Ms Harris. “When she wins, we win!” Ralph wrote. NYTIMES, REUTERS