--- title: CNN Commentator Quotes Beyoncé In Trump Debate description: Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandoski said Obama's Harvard transcripts may prove he's not a citizen. So she pulled ouy Beyonce canonical: https://time.com/4436609/cnn-beyonce-trump-birther/ author: Megan Lasher article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T15:31:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:03.972Z og:title: CNN Commentator Used Beyoncé to Argue Against Trump og:description: 'Boy, bye' og:url: https://time.com/4436609/cnn-beyonce-trump-birther/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb54d5231f197b77c/6988a0ed8e0601399146706e/beyonce-trump-birther-cnn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3060 og:image:height: 1721 og:image:alt: 2016 BET Awards - 2016 BET Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CNN Commentator Used Beyoncé to Argue Against Trump twitter:description: 'Boy, bye' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb54d5231f197b77c/6988a0ed8e0601399146706e/beyonce-trump-birther-cnn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CNN Commentator Used Beyoncé to Argue Against Trump > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=45283fbe-b76f-4a2b-9289-44f12fd6df60&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Aug 3, 2016 3:31 PM UTC  Singer Beyonce performs onstage during the 2016 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on June 26, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Singer Beyonce performs onstage during the 2016 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on June 26, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Paras Griffin—Getty Images for BET by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Aug 3, 2016 3:31 PM UTC **Correction appended, Aug. 3** Among the debates happening around the 2016 election is a question still lingering from the 2008 campaigns: Is President Obama a U.S. citizen? Because there clearly aren’t enough real issues to discuss, [former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski](http://time.com/4374711/donald-trump-corey-lewandowski-leaves/) took to CNN to attack the current president on this topic, saying that unreleased Harvard transcripts may provide proof that Obama wasn’t born on U.S. territory. Unable to fathom why this is still an issue, even after the White House released [Obama’s birth certificate](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/27/white-house-releases-obama-birth-certificate/) in 2011, [CNN commentator Angela Rye](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/obama-birther-corey-lewandowski-226607#ixzz4GHRxVWJL) called upon a higher power for strength: Beyoncé. In an on-air conversation about Trump’s attacks on Obama, [Rye said](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cnn-correspondent-invokes-beyonce-on-air-lewandowski-takedown-article-1.2736395), “Donald Trump has been attacking the president long before he began campaigning for this important office. He is the one who was the spokesperson for the birther movement and was calling for transcripts and saying that the president was an affirmative action admittee of Harvard.” “Did he ever release those transcripts, by the way?” Lewandowski responded, interrupting Rye when she came back with the fact that Trump [has yet to release his tax forms](http://time.com/4329179/donald-trump-tax-returns-release-tax-rate/). “In this moment, I’m going to Beyoncé you. Boy, bye,” Rye responded. “You’re so out of line right now. Tell your candidate to release his tax returns.” Here’s the moment of truth, captured on Twitter: > [](https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/760671449099231232) **Correction**: The original version of this story misstated Angela Rye’s role at CNN. She is a commentator. > [](https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/760671449099231232) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4436609/cnn-beyonce-trump-birther/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4436609/cnn-beyonce-trump-birther/"},"headline":"CNN Commentator Used Beyoncé to Argue Against Trump","datePublished":"2016-08-03T15:31:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:03.972Z","description":"'Boy, bye'","url":"https://time.com/4436609/cnn-beyonce-trump-birther/","keywords":["motto","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb54d5231f197b77c/6988a0ed8e0601399146706e/beyonce-trump-birther-cnn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Lasher","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb54d5231f197b77c/6988a0ed8e0601399146706e/beyonce-trump-birther-cnn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 BET Awards - 2016 BET Awards - Show","caption":"Singer Beyonce performs onstage during the 2016 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on June 26, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.","creditText":"Paras Griffin—Getty Images for BET","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4436609/cnn-beyonce-trump-birther/","name":"CNN Commentator Used Beyoncé to Argue Against Trump"}}]}] ```