Oprah sets record straight on rumored $1 million payment to endorse Harris campaign

Oprah Winfrey is shooting down rumors she was paid a whopping $1 million to support Kamala Harris at high-profile campaign events ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“I was not paid a dime. My time and energy was my way of supporting the campaign,” she wrote in the comments section of the Shade Room’s Instagram post regarding the claims.
The billionaire media mogul was seemingly responding to a Washington Examiner report claiming the Democratic candidate “paid more than $15 million” on “event production,” which allegedly included a $1 million payment to Winfrey’s Harpo Productions for the Sept. 19 “United for America” virtual town hall she hosted.
Citing its own analysis of alleged federal filings, the Examiner claimed Winfrey’s company was paid in West Hollywood, Calif. on Oct. 15.
When asked by a Shade Room reporter on Monday to respond to the scuttlebutt, Winfrey said: “Not true — I was paid nothing, ever.”
The 70-year-old, who’s worth roughly $3 billion according to Forbes’ latest estimate, further set the record straight on the payment in the Instagram comments.
“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,” she wrote. “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, who also spoke at Harris’ last campaign rally on Nov. 4 in Philadelphia, said she’s usually “reluctant to respond to rumors in general,” but felt it was necessary to put an end to any falsehoods.
“These days I realize that if you don’t stop a lie, it just gets bigger,” she wrote.