Billionaire Oprah Winfrey has again denied any personal financial gain from Vice President Kamala Harris’ unsuccessful presidential bid, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t enriched from the event.
The media mogul claimed that she wasn’t “paid a dime” by the Harris campaign, clarifying that her production company handled the financial aspects of the celebrity-laden town hall event.
Despite reports suggesting otherwise, the billionaire TV icon reiterated she did not receive a “personal fee” for hosting the high-profile “Unite for America” virtual event in September, though her company, Harpo Productions, was paid a million dollars for the event.
Addressing speculation on Instagram in a comment, the 70-year-old noted, “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.”
#OprahWinfrey is shutting down claims she was paid $1 million to host a town hall on behalf of #KamalaHarris‘ presidential campaign … with the talk show legend declaring it’s all BS. 😱 Full article in bio!
📷: BACKGRID pic.twitter.com/RcSKFbkVXj
— TMZ (@TMZ) November 11, 2024
“I was not paid a dime. My time and energy was my way of supporting the campaign,” she elaborated, according to the New York Post.
“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,” her statement detailed.
“I did not take any personal fee. However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story,” Winfrey wrapped up.
While the exact cost of Harpo’s production services remains undisclosed, the Washington Examiner reported that the Harris campaign paid the company Winfrey founded in 1986, $1 million for the event.
A company spokesperson told Variety that the Harris campaign did indeed pay for the production costs associated with the “Unite for America” event, but stated that Winfrey “was at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo,” despite owning the company.
After the Examiner’s report came out Winfrey told TMZ, that she “was paid nothing,” dismissing the assertions as “not true.”
In addition to the event, Winfrey touted Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August, and joined Harris in Philadelphia for her final campaign rally ahead of the election.
The Examiner noted that the Harris campaign spent over $15 million on production costs for star-studded events during her brief campaign, alongside a staggering $654 million in advertising.
Despite outpacing Trump in fundraising, the campaign concluded with a significant debt of $20 million.
The costly eve-of-election concerts featuring Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga added the huge sum to campaign expenses, leaving staff and vendors concerned about outstanding payments.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith criticized both Winfrey and Michelle Obama for Trump’s landslide victory, suggesting their rhetoric fostered division between genders.
He specifically pointed out Obama’s comment, “A vote for [Trump] is a vote against us,” questioning the implications for men who disagreed.
“If we don’t agree with you, we’re against you?” Smith asked. “How do you think the men felt about that? So we have to do what you tell us to do; otherwise, we’re anti-you?”
“You thought that worked? Do y’all know anything about most men? You think that’s going to work?” he questioned.
From Smith’s perspective, the Harris campaign leveraged guilt to sway “everyday people” into voting for her.
During his podcast he aired a clip where Winfrey hinted at a possible undemocratic shift in the U.S. should Trump win, which was filmed prior to the election.
Smith argued, “This is the kind of stuff that alienates an electorate, alienates a voter.”
“Because the freedom that you tell them you have, you try to confiscate morally by letting them know, you ain’t worth a damn unless you vote the way we say you should vote,” he noted.
“Who’s going to go for that in a general election?” he blasted. “With an economy rife with inflation, with over 12 million people crossing the border?”
He highlighted the disconnect between affluent celebrities like Winfrey and the average American, suggesting those worth millions—or billions—cannot guilt ordinary citizens into “doing something different than what their experience says is going on and what they should do about it.”
Watch Smith’s full podcast episode here: