(AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Monday in a rant-filled diatribe about celebrities who backed Kamala Harris that pop diva Beyonce got $11 million for endorsing his campaign rival. Trump provided no evidence to back up his free-wheeling allegations over Beyonce or other entertainers he attacked as he announced “a major investigation” into what he said were payments by the failed Democratic candidate to stars like Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey, and Bono for them to support her against Trump.
Trump, six months after he beat Harris to launch a second term in the White House, said these payments he alleges took place amounted to illegal campaign contributions. He alleged that for a Harris rally in late October in which the “Freedom” singer made an appearance, “Beyonce was paid $11,000,000 to walk onto a stage, quickly ENDORSE KAMALA, and walk off to loud booing for never having performed, NOT EVEN ONE SONG!” Trump said this was “according to news reports.” Harris had told the rally crowd at the time that “I’m not here as a celebrity. I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother.”
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he would “call for a major investigation into this matter.” “Candidates aren’t allowed to pay for ENDORSEMENTS, which is what Kamala did, under the guise of paying for entertainment,” he said. Harris had sought to harness star power from celebrities such as Beyonce, Winfrey, and Springsteen in the election race. Winfrey has defended a $1 million payment to her production company from the Harris campaign to cover costs associated with the talk show legend’s production company hosting the presidential candidate at a rally in September.
Harris’s team, meanwhile, has denied rumors that she paid Beyonce to appear at a rally. The campaign listed one endorsement-related expenditure for $75 in its financial reports to an environmental advocacy group. Trump, who won the 2024 election comfortably, received scant support from the entertainment industry at large but tapped into a targeted subset of well-known, hypermasculine influencers including podcast host Joe Rogan.
The president on Monday accused Harris of paying rock star Springsteen to perform at a rally in Georgia weeks before the election. “How much did Kamala Harris pay Bruce Springsteen for his poor performance during her campaign for president?” he wrote. “Why did he accept that money if he is such a fan of hers?” Trump last week took to Truth Social to feud with Springsteen after the star told a British concert audience that his homeland is now ruled by a “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
In return, the 78-year-old Republican said the star, nicknamed “the Boss,” is “Highly Overrated.” Springsteen is an outspoken liberal critic of Trump and turned out for Harris after she replaced Democratic president Joe Biden in his abandoned reelection bid.
© 2024 AFP
