Billionaire media personality Oprah Winfrey has denied allegations that she was paid at least $1 million for participating in Vice President Kamala Harris' failed presidential campaign.
Reports stem from claims that Winfrey was paid to host the celebrity-packed town hall event titled the "Unite for America" rally back in September. Federal Election Commission filings show that Harpo Productions, a media company linked to Winfrey, received $1 million from the Harris campaign in the form of two $500,000 payments.
To get to the bottom of the issue, a TMZ reporter who saw Winfrey in public asked her for a comment, saying: "Is it true they [Harris campaign] paid you a million dollars for the endorsement of Kamala?"
"Not true," replied Winfrey. "I was paid nothing – ever."
When this clip was posted on Instagram, Winfrey commented on the post.
"Usually I am reluctant to respond to rumors in general, but these days I realize that if you don't stop a lie, it just gets bigger," Winfrey wrote. "I was not paid a dime. My time and energy was my way of supporting the campaign."
In a follow-up statement, Harpo Productions said that Winfrey was "at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo." The production company added that all the company received from the Harris campaign was reimbursements for production costs incurred.
Winfrey noted that Harpo was asked to provide Harris with production equipment, including "set design, lights, cameras, microphones, crew, producers and every other item necessary" including set pieces like benches and chairs.
"I did not take any personal fee," Winfrey concluded. "However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story."
Many celebrities paid millions to campaign for Harris
"Unite for America," which took place in Farmington Hills, right outside of Detroit, Michigan, featured about 400 spectators who joined Winfrey and Harris inside a studio. The event was livestreamed on various social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
The event featured multiple other celebrities who joined either in person or via Zoom, including actors Bryan Cranston, Julia Roberts, Tracee Ellis Ross, Meryl Streep and Ben Stiller, comedian Chris Rock and singer-actress Jennifer Lopez.
During the rally, Winfrey lauded Harris' campaign as unleashing "a unifying force unlike anything we've seen in politics in a very long time."
"This is the moment for people who are tired of all of the bickering and all of the name-calling," she continued. "People who are exhausted by the craziness and the made-up stories and the conspiracies."
Assuming that Winfrey is lying about not being paid, she would not be the only celebrity to be compensated for publicly campaigning for Harris.
Reports indicate that musician Beyonce received $10 million to deliver just a four-minute speech at a Harris rally in Houston, Texas, in October. Hip-hop artists Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo and Eminem also received $5 million, $3 million and $1.8 million, respectively, for their public endorsements.
This massive spending may have contributed to the Harris campaign's hefty $20 million debt at the end of this campaign. (Related: Kamala campaign raised over $1 BILLION but ended up over $20 million in debt.)
Watch this report discussing how Oprah Winfrey may have been paid $1 million to publicly endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
This video is from the Sanivan channel on Brighteon.com.
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