As Beyoncé ended her critically acclaimed Cowboy Carter tour by reuniting with her Destiny’s Child bandmates in Las Vegas, President Donald Trump revisited an old allegation about the superstar performer.
“I’m looking at the large amount of money owed by the Democrats, after the Presidential Election, and the fact that they admit to paying, probably illegally, Eleven Million Dollars to singer Beyoncé for an endorsement (she never sang, not one note, and left the stage to a booing and angry audience!), Three Million Dollars for ‘expenses,’” Trump wrote in a July 26 Truth Social post.
Trump called for Harris to be prosecuted for the supposed paid endorsement.
Beyonce endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 U.S. presidential bid against Trump. But there’s no evidence the superstar performer was paid $11 million for her support, as Trump said.
It’s not clear to us what Trump was “looking at” and the White House did not respond to our questions. However, July 15 was a Federal Election Commission filing deadline for quarterly campaign expenditure reports.
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On Oct. 25, 2024, Beyoncé spoke in support of Harris during a Houston campaign rally. Days later, we rated False a social media post that said Beyoncé was paid $10 million for her speech at Harris’ event. Beyoncé’s publicist said the claim was “beyond ridiculous.” Beyonce did not perform during the rally.
Federal Election Commission disbursements data shows Harris’ campaign paid $165,000 to Beyoncé’s production company, Parkwood Production Media, LLC. The payment disbursed Nov. 19, 2024, was described as a “campaign event production” expense.
Harris for President made no $11 million payments — to anyone. And there are no other payments by the 2024 Harris campaign to Beyoncé, her production company, or her publicist’s name or company.
A Harris spokesperson told Deadline in 2024 that the campaign never paid fees to an artist or performer, but that FEC rules require campaigns to pay for some “ancillary costs.”
Federal law restricts corporations from contributing to elections or campaigns. And although a performer may appear for free, the campaign may pay for costs related to staging, venue or other equipment.
We reached out to Beyoncé’s publicist and Harris’ office, but did not receive a response.
Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mother and former manager, in November rebutted the claims her daughter was paid for the event, writing on Instagram that, “Beyonce did not receive a penny for speaking” and “actually paid for her own flights for her and her team, and total Glam.”
Trump also wasn’t right about it being illegal for a political candidate to pay for an endorsement.
Myles Martin, deputy press officer for the Federal Election Commission, pointed PolitiFact to a campaign disbursement page on how campaigns can spend their funds, which includes using funds “to influence the federal election of the candidate.” The page does not list any laws that say a candidate can’t pay for endorsements; candidates are legally required to report payments.
We rate Trump’s statement that Democrats paid Beyoncé $11 million for an endorsement False.
