DNC Day 4: Celebrity Guests, the Exonerated 5 and Mystery Wristbands on Kamala Harris’ Big Night

As night four of the Democratic National Convention opened, guests who had poured in to fill the 25,000 seats in Chicago’s United Center found an unexpected object on the seats — a wristband light with the DNC 2024 logo on its face. With one wristband for everyone, minds ran wild about the ultimate purpose of the object. 

Will the crowd create a constellation of lights inside the United Center during Harris’ culminating speech, perhaps forming her visage or the Harris/Walz logo? Whispers began to be exchanged about a gap left in the programming toward the end of the night, and with Oprah Winfrey’s surprise appearance at the podium in the rearview, which woman would be worthy of such a slot?

We’ll know soon… but for the next few hours, we all have the freedom to speculate. 

Attendees also may have noticed that the women delegates present were wearing white to honor women’s suffrage on the night of Harris’ acceptance of the Democrats’ nomination. It was a triumphant group as they danced to Chicago native DJ Metro several times throughout the evening’s breaks. The DJ also played Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” at times.

Celebrities are certainly on the roster for the night already, Eva Longoria, host (starting at 8 p.m. CT) Kerry Washington, D.L. Hughley and others will join the rock stars of the Democratic party, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Sen. Mark Kelly. But the first Hollywood celebrity to appear was Morgan Freeman, who joined actor Jeffrey Wright as a narrator of one of Harris’ new ads that have run this week. The 87-year-old Oscar winner, whose narration skills have been used in movies so frequently, it’s almost a cliche, spoke over a montage of moments from Harris’ life that may look familiar to savvy viewers who watched the DNC Show last night.

“And then came a moment that changed Kamala Harris’ destiny, and lit the fire within,” Freeman told viewers in his trademark air of omniscience.

The speakers at the United Center in the first hours included California Sen. Alex Padilla, who was appointed to Harris’ seat when she ascended to the vice presidency. Sharing her seat isn’t all Padilla has in common with Harris — they’re both the children of migrant families who rose to the top in their state’s political arena. 

​​“My question to you is this: This November, who is ready to defend the dream?” Padilla asked the crowd. “Tim Walz is ready to defend the dream. Kamala Harris is ready to defend the dream.”

Next, Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin shared details of her upbringing that closely mirrored GOP VP candidate J.D. Vance. Like the junior senator from Ohio, Baldwin had a mother who struggled with addiction and was raised by her grandparents. Social Security and Medicare were means of survival for her childhood household and Baldwin pointed out that Trump has suggested both programs could be cut. “We won’t let that happen,” she said.

“We Democrats, we honor our elders and ask the wealthy to pay their fair share,” she added.

Al Sharpton soon appeared on stage to introduce The Exonerated 5 — the new name of the five men who, as teenagers, were falsely accused in a New York rape case and then railroaded by the justice system. Donald Trump took it upon himself at the time to pay a reported $89,000 to take out full-page ads in four newspapers calling for the young men to be executed by the state. All five were exonerated via DNA evidence analysis; collectively, they served 41 years in prison.

Korey Wise, the only one of the five to serve all his time in the adult prison system, spoke to the crowd about his experience in 1989, saying, “as we walked into the courtroom every day, people screamed at us, threatened us because of Donald Trump….we were innocent kids.”

Yusef Salaam, who now serves as a New York City Councilman representing a section of Harlem, spoke next about electing Harris to “finally say goodbye to that hateful man.”

“That man thinks that hate is the animating force in America; it is not. We have the constitutional right to vote — in fact, it is a human right, so let us use it,” Salaam said. “I want you to walk with us. I want you to march with us. I want you to vote with us. And let me tell you, this is going to be so beautiful. And together on Nov. 5, we will usher in Kamala Harris and Tim Walz into the White House.”