In an angry and uncensored post on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump made a number of questionable accusations against well-known personalities like Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, and Reverend Al Sharpton. Trump added that these well-known persons were paid a lot of money—allegedly millions—to back Kamala Harris’s run for president in 2024. He argued that if these payments are true, they constitute illegal endorsements and contravene campaign financing rules.
Trump added that Beyoncé was paid an amazing $11 million to show up at a Harris campaign event for a short time, give her public support, and then leave without singing a single song. Trump said, “She never sang a note and left the stage to a crowd that was angry and booing.” He also alleged that Oprah Winfrey earned $3 million in the same way and that Reverend Al Sharpton, whom Trump termed a “very low-rated TV ‘anchor'” and a “complete lightweight,” got $600,000.
The newspaper queried if these purported transactions were legal and moral, and Trump said, “The books and records have wrong information about these ridiculous expenses.” You can’t bribe someone to speak nice things about you. This kind of behavior is against the law. He went on to say that letting these kinds of things happen might have big effects, like widespread corruption and too much influence in political campaigns. “What would happen if politicians gave people money to vote for them?” He said, “Things would go wrong!” “Kamala and everyone else who took money for endorsements breached the law. Everyone should take them to court!
Trump’s claims were very forceful, but he didn’t give any specific evidence to back them up. There was no paperwork, contracts, or proof of financial records to back up the assertions, and it doesn’t seem like an official complaint has been filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) yet.
The Harris team has denied that any unlawful payments were made in response to reports that have been going around online, some of which go back to October 2024, when Beyoncé was seen with Harris at a campaign event. Beyoncé made it obvious to the crowd that she wasn’t there for fame or politics. She said, “I’m not a celebrity.” “I’m not a politician.” As a mother, I’m here because I care about the world my kids and all of our kids live in. In our culture, we can govern our own bodies, and there is no split. Her statement made it apparent that she was passionately committed to social and political reasons, not because she worked for or got paid by the campaign.
More digging into campaign financial records has turned up several interesting transactions, but none of them match Trump’s statistics. According to official FEC disclosures, Beyoncé’s media company, Parkwood Entertainment, got $165,000. The business began in 2008. There is no proof, nevertheless, that this money was given to support a personal cause. The money could have been for costs related to putting up the event or for promoting it.
Deadline also claimed that Harpo Productions, Oprah Winfrey’s media company, got $1 million, not $3 million like Trump said. Reverend Al Sharpton leads the National Action Network, which earned $500,000 instead of the $600,000 that Trump indicated. Both groups helped design a digital campaign event in Michigan that involved talking to voters, programming to get people engaged in the community, and talking about policy. There is no public proof that the money was simply offered for endorsements.
Election law experts say that it is okay to pay celebrities to help with a campaign, such holding events, generating promotional materials, or persuading people to vote, as long as the payments are clearly listed and properly categorized in campaign financial records. It would be against the law to pay someone just for a personal endorsement, without any labor or services being done and without full disclosure.
So far, neither the White House nor the Harris campaign have officially responded to Trump’s claims. There is also no hint that an official inquiry has started. There has been a lot of intense debate about the post on social and political media, but fact-checkers have quickly pointed out that the main allegations are not backed up by any evidence.
Trump’s post is part of a bigger scheme to make people question the honesty of Democratic campaigns and high-profile endorsements. Still, his allegations are just unverified statements posted on social media that could propagate incorrect information if people don’t pay close attention.
The Federal Election Commission’s filings tell a different story right now: tiny, recorded payments for services given during events, not multimillion-dollar payments for silent endorsements. Right now, the focus is still on being open and honest, as well as the role celebrities play in shaping political campaigns in a world that is highly divided.