Under fire from critics, including her hometown Chicago newspaper, Oprah Winfrey is now seeking to explain the million-dollar fee paid to her production company for a City Hall event in support of Kamala Harris.
Before the election, Winfrey’s Harpo Productions helped host a star-studded event for the vice president in Michigan, as the billionaire entertainment mogul enthusiastically endorsed Harris as the next president of the United States.
Harris’ campaign footed the bill for organizing the town hall and made a $1 million payment to Winfrey’s production company, Harpo Productions.
When TMZ first publicly confronted her with the news on Monday, Winfrey appeared to deny it.
“It’s not true,” he said when a cameraman asked him about the payment. ‘They didn’t pay me anything. Ever.’
But Winfrey is now struggling to clarify her comments in an Instagram post on the show’s The Shade Room account.
“I’m normally reluctant to respond to rumors in general, but these days I realize that if you don’t stop a lie, it gets bigger,” she wrote.
Winfrey said her production team billed the $1 million fee to Harris’ campaign to host the Michigan event on her behalf.
“My production company Harpo was asked to bring in scenery, lights, cameras, microphones, equipment, producers and any other items needed (including the benches and chairs we sat on) to put on a live production,” he said. wrote.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) joins media titan Oprah Winfrey at a livestreamed “United for America” rally in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on September 19, 2024.
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 receive ‘a dime’ from the campaign.
“I didn’t charge any personal fees,” he said. ‘However, it was necessary to pay the people who worked on that production. And they were. End of story.’
The event featured virtual appearances from celebrities including Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez and Bryan Cranston.
Despite the splashy celebrity-centric event in the swing state, Harris lost Michigan and the presidential election to Donald Trump.
the chicago Grandstand criticized the billionaire former talk show host for 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 live-streamed ‘Unite for America’ rally in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on September 19, 2024.
Oprah Winfrey speaking at Vice President Kamala Harris’ final campaign rally in Philadelphia
“Frankly, a million dollars isn’t much for Winfrey, so we highly doubt she was seeking any kind of personal payment from her chosen candidate,” the editorial board wrote in a column.
But she owns Harpo and is its president and CEO. The production fees should have been a campaign donation.’
Since then, Joe Biden and Harris’ teams have blamed each other for wasting more than $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 that their production companies received payments from the campaign.