You might want to steer clear of the Beyhive today unless you enjoy the feeling of a thousand tiny stings and the sweet, sweet taste of disappointment.

There was an electrifying sense of anticipation leading up to the final night of the Democratic National Convention. Sure, Vice President Kamala Harris was set to accept her party’s nomination, but let’s be honest: everyone was really holding out hope that the queen herself, Beyoncé, would descend from the heavens to bless the event with a performance so divine it could turn Mitch McConnell into a social justice warrior.

As with all good fantasies, the rumors that Beyoncé would make a surprise appearance at the DNC were born and died in the echo chamber of social media—a place where dreams go to inflate faster than a Mylar balloon and deflate twice as fast.

The speculation began back in July when CNN reported that Beyoncé had granted Vice President Harris the sacred privilege of using her 2016 hit “Freedom” as the official anthem for her presidential campaign. Naturally, this led to the burning question on everyone’s mind: Would Queen Bey herself pop out of a cake, endorse Harris, and then unite the world in a spontaneous global flash mob to overthrow tyranny and injustice?

Some internet detectives, armed with nothing but hope and caffeine, swore they saw the signs: a private jet supposedly belonging to Beyoncé was spotted at O’Hare, the DNC’s house band was reportedly practicing Beyoncé hits, and there were whispers of “Cowboy Kamala” sashes being handed out in the Washington delegation. Clearly, these were the harbingers of Beyoncé’s arrival. Shasti Conrad, chair of the Washington Democratic Party, summed up the excitement with the kind of reverence usually reserved for ancient prophecies. “The Beyhive is sort of what the KHive built themselves after,” she said, confirming that Harris’s fanbase was, in fact, a derivative work of Beyoncé’s internet army.

Then, there was the bee emoji. Yes, the tiny insect icon tweeted by White House political director Emily Ruiz sent the Twitterverse into overdrive. Because if anything can confirm a superstar’s surprise appearance at a political convention, it’s the ambiguous usage of an insect emoji by a government official. The convention quickly took on the vibe of a Coachella for political junkies, minus the flower crowns and with 100% more flag pins. Oprah’s surprise cameo on Wednesday night only fueled the fires of speculation, especially after a mysterious tweet from “Angry Staffer” hinted that something even more earth-shattering was on the horizon.

By Thursday night, TMZ—the paragon of accurate journalism—reported that Beyoncé was indeed set to perform. News outlets, fueled by the journalistic equivalent of blind faith, began reaching out to representatives for confirmation while social media collectively held its breath, prayed, and prepared its best dance moves.

The stage was set. The DNC was abuzz. And then… nothing. No “Single Ladies,” no “Halo,” not even a quick “Bootylicious.” Instead, fans were treated to the shocking revelation that the Grammy-winning singer would not be making an appearance after all. The Hollywood Reporter, delivering the bad news like a waiter announcing they’re out of chocolate cake, revealed that Beyoncé had never been scheduled to appear at the DNC. “She was never scheduled to be in Chicago,” Beyoncé’s representative Yvette Noel-Schure told CNN, dashing the dreams of millions like a rogue wave extinguishing a campfire.

TMZ, in a rare display of humility, backtracked with a lyrical apology, quoting Beyoncé’s own words to confess their sins: “We gotta lay our cards down, down, down… we got this one wrong.”

As for the X account that got the rumor mill churning in the first place, “Angry Staffer” sheepishly admitted their part in the fiasco, issuing a classic “my bad” for having gotten everyone’s hopes up.

In the end, the DNC went on without a Beyoncé performance, leaving fans to nurse their broken hearts and wonder what might have been. But if nothing else, the episode proved that in politics, as in pop culture, the hype is often more entertaining than the reality. And for those who had their hopes dashed, there’s always the 2028 convention—maybe by then, we’ll finally get that Beyoncé-Taylor Swift duet we’ve all been dreaming of.