Kamala Harris ‘s campaign coughed up more than double the expected amount to Oprah Winfrey ‘s company for a live-streamed event during this year’s presidential race .
According to two sources, Harris paid Winfrey Harpo Productions almost $2.5 million for the “United for America” event in September. This is different from earlier reports that said the event only cost the Democratic candidate $1 million.
Harris’ campaign spent $100 million a week during her short run for president, which began in late July after Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Even though her campaign cost almost $1.8 billion and put the Democratic Party $20 million in debt, supporters are still being asked to give money.
The Democrats’ wasteful spending is making people more worried about their campaign, especially since they lost badly to Donald Trump, who beat Harris by 312 Electoral College votes.
A lot of Harris’ money came from working with influencers, having famous people perform at her events, and taking private jets between battleground states.
According to FEC filings, the campaign spent $20 million on concerts and celebrity appearances in the days before the election. This is almost the same amount of money that it said it owed the government.
A new report from The New York Times says that Winfrey got one of the bigger bills: about $2.5 million for her production company to host a town hall with Harris in September.
Over 1.2 million people watched the event in less than 12 hours. The TV host talked to the Democratic candidate about issues like immigration and abortion rights.
Someone from Harpo Productions said that the campaign “paid for the production costs of ‘Unite for America,’ a live streaming event that took place outside of Detroit, Michigan on September 19.”
They also said, “Oprah Winfrey was never paid a personal fee during the campaign, and Harpo never gave her a fee.”
People were also told that Meryl Streep, Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, and Julia Roberts would be at the virtual town hall, which was advertised as a celebrity event.
The host of the talk show said she did not keep any of the money. Instead, she said she paid her staff and paid for the event.
Over on Instagram, Winfrey said, “I was not paid a dime.”
“My production company, Harpo, was asked to bring in set design, lights, cameras, crew, producers, and everything else needed to put on a live show for the September event. This included the chairs and benches we sat on.”
“I did not get paid anything.” But the people who worked on that show should have been paid. And were. That is the end of it.
Plus, a lot of money was spent on famous people like Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Megan Thee Stallion, Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, and Katy Perry.
People have started to question the value of celebrity endorsements and performances ever since Harris’s expensive loss. This is especially true since Trump spent less on his campaign.
It cost almost $1.8 billion for the Democratic campaign and outside groups that support Democrats to run, but only $1.4 billion for the Trump campaign and outside groups that support Trump.