Turns out, Oprah Winfrey’s buy-in on failed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris wasn’t as cheap as originally advertised.
When it was first revealed that the Harris campaign, which spent $1.6 billion on her failed bid and is reportedly $20 million in debt, paid millions of dollars to essentially buy the support of a number of top-tier entertainers, Oprah was quick to deny reports that she was paid $1 million — the billionaire media proprietor held a September town hall with Harris and appeared at Harris’ final campaign rally in Philadelphia.
While Winfrey acknowledged that her Harpo Productions staff was paid by the Harris campaign, she did not set the record straight on how much that amounted to. Thanks to the New York Times, we now learn that according to two people familiar with the matter, the full payout for the town hall was closer to $2.5 million.
“My time and energy was my way of supporting the campaign,” Oprah said at the time. “For the live-streaming event in September, my production company Harpo was asked to bring in set design, lights, cameras, microphones, crew, producers, and every other item necessary (including the benches and chairs we sat on) to put on a live production.”
“I did not take any personal fee,” she continued. “However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.”
According to the Times, Team Kamalot was burning through $100 million a week in the run-up to the election in what may go down as the greatest psyop campaign perpetrated against the American people since the Great Pandemic of 2020. The campaign spent millions on private jet travel and millions more on star-studded campaign events featuring Lady Gaga, Cardi B, Katy Perry, Bon Jovi, Lizzo, Eminem, and Bruce Springsteen.
There were rumors about Beyoncé receiving $10 million for her endorsement of Harris, and Megan Thee Stallion allegedly getting $5 million. The usual suspects in the fact-checking brigade were eager to note that these claims were unsubstantiated.
Al Sharpton’s National Action Network reportedly received $500,000 in donations from the Harris campaign before a fawning MSNBC interview — Sharpton did not disclose the conflict of interest during the interview, prompting Megyn Kelly to blast the network for what she called an ethical violation that served as a black eye to the media profession.
Kelly also pointed out that candidates being featured in events like town halls are not on the hook for set fees and staff salaries.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story as seen on X:
I have always admired Oprah’s success (I like success)….but did her production company really need to charge $2.5m for this? (See below) A lot of grassroots donors who gave probably wish that the spending by the campaign was more frugal. pic.twitter.com/70a1PJbAa7
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) November 17, 2024
BREAKING: Oprah Winfrey did NOT get $1 million from the Harris campaign, as was previously reported…
Turns out, it was $2.5 million pic.twitter.com/GuISXT6cXQ
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 17, 2024
Oprah, Beyoncé, the Call Me Daddy Podcast and so many other celebrities were all paid by the Kamala Harris campaign for their endorsements and “interviews”. Imagine if Trump paid Joe Rogan for his endorsement and you wouldn’t hear the end of it. Oprah got $2.5 million from Kamala pic.twitter.com/aF4klo6VbE
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 18, 2024
BREAKING- YOUR REACTION: Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign paid nearly $2.5 million to Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo Productions, for hosting a celebrity-filled town hall in September—more than double the originally estimated $1 million, The New York Times just… pic.twitter.com/njdWfDahCA
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) November 18, 2024
Oprah: All Donald Trump cares about is making himself wealthier
Kamala: Will you come to my rally and help me defeat Trump?
Oprah: Of course! That’ll be $2.5 Million please
— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) November 17, 2024
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