Oprah finally explains the controversial $1 million Kamala Harris fee
Oprah Winfrey breaks silence on 'being paid $1million' to support Kamala Harris
By Charlie Spiering
Daily Mail
Nov 14, 2024
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) joins media titan Oprah Winfrey at a 'Unite for America' live-streamed rally in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on September 19, 2024
Under fire from critics including her hometown Chicago newspaper, Oprah Winfrey is now seeking to explain the $1 million fee paid to her production company for a town hall event supporting Kamala Harris.
Before the election, Winfrey's Harpo Productions helped stage a star-studded town hall event for the vice president in Michigan as the billionaire entertainment mogul enthusiastically endorsed Harris to be the next president of the United States.
The Harris campaign footed the bill for organizing the town hall and made a $1 million payment to Winfrey's production company, Harpo Productions.
When first publicly confronted by TMZ with the news on Monday, Winfrey appeared to give a denial.
'Not true' she said, when a cameraman asked her about the payment. 'I was paid nothing. Ever.'
But Winfrey is now scrambling to clarify her remarks in an Instagram post on The Shade Room show account.
'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,' she wrote.
Winfrey said her production team billed the $1 million fee to the Harris campaign to host the Michigan event on her behalf.
'[M]y 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,' she wrote.
Oprah Winfrey holds hands with Kamala Harris after introducing the vice president to speak during a campaign rally outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
'Winfrey clarified that she personally did not get 'one dime' from the campaign.
'I did not take any personal fee,' she said. 'However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.'
The event featured virtual appearances by A-listers including Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez and Bryan Cranston.
Despite the splashy celebrity-focused event in the swing state Harris lost Michigan, and the presidential election, to Donald Trump
The Chicago Tribune blasted the billionaire former talk show host over her decision to allow her company to accept the payment, suggesting Winfrey should have paid her workers' fees herself.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) joins US television producer Oprah Winfrey at a 'Unite for America' live streaming rally in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on September 19, 2024
Oprah Winfrey speaking at Vice President Kamala Harris final campaign rally in Philadelphia
'Frankly, $1 million is not all that much to Winfrey and so we very much doubt that she was seeking any kind of personal payday from her chosen candidate,' the editorial board wrote in a column.
'But she does own Harpo and serves as its chairwoman and CEO. The production fees should have been a campaign donation.'
Joe Biden and Harris' teams have since blamed each other for wasting over $1 billion in donor cash on a disastrous presidential campaign.
Other celebrities such as Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, Eminem, Cardi-B, and Lady Gaga made appearances for Harris throughout the campaign but there is no evidence of their production companies receiving payments from the campaign.
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Conservative outrage at MSNBC silence after Al Sharpton took $500k from Kamala then did gushing interview
By Will Potter
Daily Mail
Nov 14, 2024
MSNBC host Al Sharpton sparked backlash after his non-profit allegedly received $500,000 from Kamala Harris' campaign shortly before he interviewed her last month (pictured)
Conservatives slammed MSNBC after host Rev. Al Sharpton accepted $500,000 from Kamala Harris' campaign weeks before a gushing interview.
Sharpton's sit down with the vice president last month drew scrutiny for his softball questioning, with the conservative Washington Free Beacon releasing campaign finance records claiming his non-profit was paid handsomely before the gig.
Billionaire hedge fund manager and Trump supporter Bill Ackman led the charge, telling Megyn Kelly on her show this week the payments were an attempt 'to manipulate the audience.'
Another critic questioned on X: 'Aren't political campaigns supposed to GET donations?'
Harris' campaign allegedly gave two $250,000 payments to Sharpton's National Action Network on September 5 and October 1.
And on October 20, Sharpton's went on to praise Harris' 'extraordinary historic campaign' in a gushing interview, and branded Donald Trump 'hostile and erratic.'
MSNBC has stayed silent over the payment, despite suspending Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough in 2010 for making $4,000 in campaign donations.
Sharpton's sit down with the vice president (pictured attending memorial together in May 2022) drew scrutiny for its softball questioning
The payments to Sharpton's organization came as part of a $5.4 million fund the Harris campaign dished out to black and Hispanic advocacy groups, ostensibly to help bolster her candidacy among minority voters.
However, the move spectacularly failed as Harris struggled among key demographics, including losing seven percent of Hispanic voters and eight percent of black voters compared to Joe Biden's 2020 totals.
After the payments to Sharpton came to light, the scandal led to claims of favoritism and a clear lack of impartiality on Sharpton's part, which began even before his interview with Harris.
On October 3, two days after her campaign's second payment, Sharpton shared a clip on his MSNBC show of Harris wishing him a happy birthday, where she referred to him by his nickname 'Rev'.
'You have been over all of your years such an extraordinary leader. You have been a voice of truth, a voice of conscience,' the vice president told him.
Two weeks later, Sharpton's interview with Harris followed the same positive theme, with the Washington Free Beacon observing his 'questions lined up closely with messages that Harris sought to highlight on the campaign trail.'
This included Sharpton invoking Shirley Chisolm, the first Black woman elected to congress, in reference to Harris' 'historic' candidacy.
Sharpton also drew criticism in the interview as he questioned whether any men not supporting Harris were driven by 'misogyny.'
MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the payments.
Former Congressman John Linder led the charge in condemning the payments to Sharpton's non-profit, branding his interview with Harris a 'campaign commercial.'
'That requires a disclaimer that it was approved and paid for by the Harris campaign,' he wrote.
'Let's see how the FEX deals with all of the celebrities who were paid for their endorsements.'
Another X user argued that it was Harris' celebrity endorsements - which also included alleged payments to stars such as Oprah and Lizzo - 'is one of the reasons they lost.'
'More people started to see through the nonsense,' they said.
'Apparently the Harris groundswell of 'energetic' support was manufactured by lots of cold cash.'
It comes as questions have been raised over how the Harris campaign blew through over $1 billion in the few months of her doomed candidacy, leaving it in $20 million in debt.
This
included paying a six-figure sum to create a set for Harris' 'Call Her
Daddy' podcast interview, and $1 million to Oprah's production
company.
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