Posts Make Unfounded Claim About Beyoncé’s Endorsement of Harris
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Quick Take
Singer-songwriter Beyoncé endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president at a campaign rally in Houston on Oct. 25. Social media posts have made the unfounded claim that Beyoncé was paid $10 million for the endorsement. We found no evidence to support the claim, and a Harris campaign official said “it is not true.”
Full Story
Singer-songwriter Beyoncé has a history of supporting Democratic presidential candidates, dating to 2008, when she appeared with her husband, rapper Jay-Z, at a rally for then-Sen. Barack Obama the day before Election Day.
In July, Beyoncé gave Vice President Kamala Harris permission to use her song “Freedom” during her presidential campaign. And Beyoncé was among the rumored special guests expected to appear at the Democratic National Convention in August. (She didn’t.)
It wasn’t until October that Beyoncé officially endorsed Harris. She appeared at an Oct. 25 rally for the vice president in the singer’s hometown of Houston, where she encouraged Texans to vote for Harris. “It’s time for America to sing a new song,” she said.
Social media users have since made the unfounded claim that Beyoncé received $10 million in exchange for her endorsement of Harris.
The claim was shared to X on Oct. 26, where it was viewed more than 1 million times, according to the platform. The post reads, in part, “BREAKING: It is being reported that Beyonce got paid $10 MILLION for her speech last night.” A screenshot of the post was also shared on Threads.
A similar claim was made on X on Oct. 26: “Beyonce was paid $10 million for her 2 minute speech at Kamala’s rally last night. $5 million dollars per minute.”
Beyoncé actually spoke for around four minutes at the Houston rally, and there’s no evidence she was paid for it.
The claim was also shared on Threads in a post that referenced Elon Musk’s America PAC giving away $1 million to registered voters in swing states. The post said, “So Elon can’t pay someone for signing a petition, but Kamala can pay someone 10 million dollars to try and influence voters?”
Musk’s PAC is currently being sued by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for running an illegal lottery. Federal law prohibits paying people for registering to vote.
It is, however, legal for a campaign to pay for endorsements, provided that the expenditures are publicly disclosed. But we found no evidence to suggest that Beyoncé was paid anything for her endorsement, and a Harris campaign official told us in an email the social media claim “is not true.”
The Harris campaign, as of Oct. 17, lists only one endorsement-related expenditure — for $75 — in its Federal Election Commission financial reports. It was made to the League of Conservation Voters, a pro-environment nonprofit, in June, when President Joe Biden was still running for reelection.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
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Nicholas, Peter, and Dareh Gregorian. “President Joe Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race.” NBC. 21 Jul 2024.
Perez, Evan, et al. “Justice Department warns Elon Musk that his $1 million giveaway to registered voters may be illegal.” CNN. 23 Oct 2024.
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Porterfield, Carlie. “Beyoncé Encourages Fans To Vote As She Touts Biden In Last-Minute Instagram Endorsement.” Forbes. 2 Nov 2020.
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