Donald Trump has launched a series of late-night social media posts alleging without evidence that celebrities such as Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey and Bruce Springsteen were paid by Kamala Harris’s campaign for their endorsements. The former president posted on Truth Social that he would call for a “major investigation” into what he claimed were illegal campaign contributions disguised as entertainment payments.
Trump specifically claimed Beyoncé was paid $11 million to appear on stage with Harris in Houston, and questioned why Springsteen accepted money if he is a fan. He also mentioned Bono. The Harris campaign and the celebrities have denied receiving any payment for endorsements. Oprah wrote on Instagram that she “was not paid a dime” and that the $1 million paid to her production company, Harpo, was for production costs of a town hall event. Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, posted that Beyoncé paid for her own flights and glam and received “not a penny”.
Campaign finance reports show that the Harris campaign paid Oprah’s Harpo $1 million for production and Beyoncé’s company $165,000, consistent with covering event costs rather than endorsement fees. Federal election law does not ban paying for endorsements, but any such payments must be disclosed as campaign expenditures. The Harris campaign told Deadline that it followed all campaign finance laws “religiously” and never paid a fee to artists or performers for appearances.
Trump’s allegations come as he has increasingly directed the US Department of Justice to investigate his political opponents, leading legal experts to characterise the department as his “personal law firm”. The claims also echo a broader right-wing narrative about Harris’s celebrity support, despite a lack of corroborating evidence.
