Trump demands Beyoncé be prosecuted over false paid endorsement claims

U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Beyoncé to be prosecuted over false claims that she was paid to endorse Kamala Harris in 2024.

In posts on his social media, Trump claimed that Beyoncé was paid $11 million (€9.4 million) for endorsing Harris at a campaign event in Houston in October 2024. Trump also took aim at talk show host Oprah Winfrey and civil rights activist Al Sharpton, claiming that the Harris campaign broke the law by paying for celebrity endorsements and demanding all those involved be prosecuted.

"Can you imagine what would happen if politicians started paying for people to endorse them," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"All hell would break out! Kamala, and all of those that received Endorsement money, BROKE THE LAW. They should all be prosecuted!"

However, there is no evidence to support the claim that Beyoncé herself received any payment related to the Harris campaign. There is also no U.S. law barring a campaign from paying for endorsements, provided that expenditures are publicly disclosed.

According to federal campaign spending records, the Harris campaign did pay $165,000 (€141,000) to Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé’s production company, for a “campaign event production” expense. A Harris campaign spokesperson told Deadline in 2024 that while they were required by law to cover costs connected to celebrity appearances, they did not pay the celebrities for their endorsements.

Despite thorough investigation by media sources and fact-checkers, no evidence has ever been produced to support the claim of an eight-figure endorsement payment.

In a February interview with right-wing TV personality Mark Levin, Trump vaguely described his source on the number, saying, "Somebody just showed me something. They gave her $11 million... [for] an endorsement, I guess, because she didn't sing."

Claims that Beyoncé was paid $10 million for her speech at the Houston rally circulated on social media shortly after the event, which were also disproven by fact-checkers. Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mother, took to Instagram in November to call the allegation a "lie."

"When In Fact: Beyoncé did not receive a penny for speaking at a Presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’s (sic) Rally in Houston," Knowles wrote.

Beyoncé’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, told fact-checking website PolitiFact in November that the endorsement payment claim "is beyond ridiculous."

In May, Trump threatened to launch an investigation into celebrity appearances at Harris's campaign events, naming Beyoncé and Oprah as well as Bruce Springsteen and Bono as "unpatriotic 'entertainers'" on social media. None of the celebrities who endorsed Trump during his presidential run — including Kid Rock, Jason Aldean and the recently deceased Hulk Hogan — have faced calls for investigation.