Trump falsely insists Beyoncé was paid $11 million to back Harris—though records show just a $165K production payment, according to multiple fact‑checks.
President Donald Trump used his Truth Social platform over the weekend to renew an unsubstantiated claim that Beyoncé accepted an $11 million campaign payment for endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris at an October 2024 rally in Houston.
He asserted that the Democrats “probably illegally” paid the pop superstar for an endorsement, even though she never performed live. In reality, the Harris campaign’s only payment was a $165,000 fee to Beyoncé’s production company to cover event‐production costs—standard practice under campaign finance rules—while Beyoncé and her team paid their own travel and glam expenses, her mother Tina Knowles confirmed.
Trump’s post also accused Oprah Winfrey and Al Sharpton of being similarly paid to appear with Harris, and threatened a “major investigation” into alleged illegal campaign contributions from high‐profile figures like Bono and Bruce Springsteen. To date, no evidence has emerged supporting any of these claims, and neither Trump nor his allies have produced documentation of the purported payments.
This diversion coincides with mounting calls from Trump’s own supporters for him to release more information about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It also follows Trump’s recent baseless accusation that former President Obama committed treason by investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Fact‐checking outlets—including CNN and The New York Times—have repeatedly debunked the Beyoncé payment story, clarifying that celebrity endorsements may be promoted but not directly paid for, and that any campaign‐related expenses go toward production, not personal endorsement fees.
Despite Trump’s insistence on Truth Social, no formal inquiry has been launched, and representatives for the named celebrities have declined to comment on the allegations.
