Oprah Winfrey denied accusations that she was paid $1 million to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, shutting down rumors after early reports began scrutinizing the Democratic presidential campaign’s expenditure that reportedly ended its run $20 million in debt.
In a video published by TMZ on Monday, a reporter approaches the former talk show host and asks her if the Harris campaign “paid you a million dollars for the endorsement.” Winfrey simply replied “not true,” later adding: “I was paid nothing, ever.”
Last week, the Washington Examiner reported the campaign paid Winfrey’s production company, Harpo Productions, $1 million on Oct. 15. It’s not clear what the cash was used for, but Winfrey appeared with Harris at multiple campaign events, including a town hall in Michigan in September and at the Democratic nominee’s final rally before Election Day in Philadelphia.
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The same report detailed the campaign spending millions on production costs for Harris’ star-studded events, as well as her interview with Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper.
Winfrey endorsed Harris as early as August, when she gave a surprise speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The Harris campaign’s debt was first reported by Politico last Wednesday—shocking Democratic insiders after the nominee raised a huge sum of money in just three months. Despite only launching her campaign at the end of July, the Harris campaign raised a staggering $1 billion in donations by October.
Harris’ Republican rival, President-elect Donald Trump, couldn’t help but gloat over the reported debt, insisting that the Democratic campaign was being “squeezed by vendors” after the high-profile rallies.
“Whatever we can do to help them during this difficult period, I would strongly recommend we, as a Party and for the sake of desperately needed UNITY, do,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
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