What we can VERIFY about Harris campaign’s payment to Oprah’s production company

Numerous celebrities endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, and her campaign events featured many of them. The endorsements included one from Oprah Winfrey, who hosted a livestreamed town hall with Harris on Sept. 19.

Following the election, some Harris critics on social media have questioned the authenticity of Winfrey’s endorsement, claiming she received two $500,000 payments from the Harris campaign in exchange for her endorsement.

Several VERIFY readers sent us emails asking if the Harris campaign paid Winfrey $1 million for a campaign event or an endorsement.

THE QUESTION

Did the Harris campaign pay Oprah Winfrey’s production company $1 million?

THE SOURCES

• Federal Elections Commission (FEC)

• Oprah Winfrey’s Instagram account

• Statement from Harpo Productions

• Oprah’s endorsement history

THE ANSWER

Yes, Harris’ campaign paid Oprah Winfrey’s production company $1 million. Oprah says it was to cover the production costs of the town hall event that her company organized and that she did not personally take any money.

WHAT WE FOUND

Federal Elections Commission (FEC) data shows the Harris campaign made two $500,000 payments to Harpo Productions, Winfrey’s production company, on Oct. 15, 2024, nearly a month after the town hall event. The listed reason for the payment is “event production.”

That aligns with what Winfrey and a spokesperson for the production company have publicly said.

Winfrey addressed the rumor in a reply to an Instagram comment posted Nov. 11. She has previously used Instagram to address other rumors surrounding herself, such as when a scam gummy company falsely claimed to have her endorsement.

“Usually I am reluctant to respond to rumors in general, but these days I realize that if you don’t stop a lie, it just gets bigger,” Winfrey commented. “I was not paid a dime. My time and energy was my way of supporting the campaign. 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. I did not take any personal fee. However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.”

A Harpo Productions spokesperson shared with VERIFY a statement supporting Winfrey’s claim that the money went to the cost of production and not to Oprah herself. 

“The campaign paid for the production costs of ‘Unite for America,’ a live-streaming event that took place September 19 outside Detroit, Michigan,” the Harpo Productions spokesperson said. “Oprah Winfrey was at no point during the campaign paid a personal fee, nor did she receive a fee from Harpo.”

The FEC database lists over 1,500 payments for “event production” by candidates running for president in 2023 and 2024. Many of these were made by Harris’ campaign, but some were made by the Trump campaign and other Republicans.

Winfrey has a history of endorsing Democratic candidates in elections, including those for president. There is no evidence that she was paid for any of these endorsements.

In 2022, she endorsed several Democrats running for Senate or their state’s governorship, including John Fetterman, who ran against and won Pennsylvania’s Senate seat over Mehmet Oz, the host of his own show produced by Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.

In 2018, Winfrey endorsed Stacey Abrams, a Democrat who ran against Brian Kemp for his seat as Georgia’s governor. During a speech at one of Abrams’ rallies, Winfrey said she was a registered Independent because she didn’t want any party telling her what decisions she gets to make for herself.

Most famously, Winfrey endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama ahead of the Democratic primaries for the 2008 presidential election. The endorsement was so notable that it has its own Wikipedia page dedicated to it.