President Donald Trump has called for the prosecution of music superstar Beyoncé, citing the baseless claim that she was illegally paid $11 million for endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
In a social media post over the weekend, Trump alleged that Beyoncé broke the law by accepting the payment for her appearance at a Harris campaign event in Houston in October 2024. However, there is no evidence to support this claim. Federal campaign finance records show a single $165,000 payment from the Harris campaign to Beyoncé’s production company, which was officially listed as an expense for “campaign event production.”
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign previously stated that while the campaign does not pay for celebrity endorsements, it is legally required to cover production costs related to their appearances.
The allegation of a multi-million dollar payment has been circulating online since last year, when it was debunked by fact-checking organizations like FactCheck.org and PolitiFact. At the time, Trump supporters on social media had claimed the amount was $10 million.
Representatives for Beyoncé have also forcefully refuted the story. Her mother, Tina Knowles, called the claim a “lie” on social media, writing that Beyoncé “did not receive a penny” for speaking at the rally. A spokesperson for the singer also told PolitiFact last year that the allegation was “beyond ridiculous.”
Despite the lack of evidence, Trump revived the falsehood from Scotland, writing that he was looking at “the fact” that Democrats “admit to paying, probably illegally, Eleven Million Dollars to singer Beyoncé for an ENDORSEMENT.” No such admission has been made.
Trump also incorrectly asserted that it is “TOTALLY ILLEGAL” to pay for political endorsements, though no federal law forbids the practice. He concluded the post by stating, “Kamala, and all of those that received Endorsement money, BROKE THE LAW. They should all be prosecuted!”
This demand marks an escalation of Trump’s previous rhetoric on the subject. In May, he called for a “major investigation” into payments to Harris’s celebrity endorsers but did not explicitly demand prosecutions.
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