Trump guns for Grammy winner over fake $11M payment

President Donald Trump renewed an unsubstantiated claim recently, calling for the prosecution of pop icon Beyonce based on a widely debunked allegation. The president alleged that the Democratic Party “illegally” paid $11 million to the Grammy winner for her endorsement at a 2024 presidential campaign rally, Knewz.com has learned.

Allegation against Beyonce and the Harris campaign

In a Truth Social post, President Trump alleged, “I’m looking at the large amount of money owed by the Democrats, after the Presidential Election, and the fact that they admit to paying, probably illegally, Eleven Million Dollars to singer Beyonce for an ENDORSEMENT (she never sang, not one note, and left the stage to a booing and angry audience!).” However, reports have mentioned that there is no evidence to support his claim, and neither Beyonce nor the Kamala Harris campaign has ever acknowledged any such payment. Trump further claimed that it is “totally illegal” to pay for an endorsement and that “Kamala, and all of those that received Endorsement money, BROKE THE LAW.” Raged Trump, “They should all be prosecuted!” However, reports have pointed out that no federal law prohibits endorsement payments.

What the records show

According to federal campaign spending records, the Harris campaign paid $165,000 to Beyonce’s production company for a campaign rally held in Houston in October 2024. The payment is categorized as a “campaign event production” expense, which complies with legal requirements for covering costs tied to celebrity appearances. A Harris campaign spokesperson previously said in a statement that no endorsers were paid for their participation and that the campaign only paid for production expenses tied to the event. Social media rumors alleging a $10 million payment to Beyonce first emerged and began circulating among Trump supporters in 2024. Fact-checking organizations, including FactCheck.org and PolitiFact, investigated those original rumors in 2024 and concluded that the claims lacked any factual basis.

Beyonce’s team pushes back

When the $11 million rumor started spreading in 2024, Beyonce’s mother Tina Knowles pushed back against it and wrote a lengthy post on Instagram about it. “So this has been flagged on Instagram as fake news and taken down. It’s called False Information. Sadly other platforms with a lack of integrity still have it up. The lie is that Beyonce was paid 10 million dollars to speak at a rally in Houston for Vice President Kamala Harris,” she wrote. “When In Fact: Beyonce did not receive a penny for speaking at a Presidential candidate Vice President Kamala [Harris’] Rally in Houston. In fact she actually paid for her own flights for her and her team, and total Glam. They are not only lying and disrespecting Beyonce’s name but they are trying to further discredit the power of our vice president! When does the lies and rumors stop?” A spokesperson for Beyonce told PolitiFact in a statement that the claim about a $10 million payment is “beyond ridiculous.”

A broader pattern of behavior?

It has been reported that President Trump’s demand for legal action against Beyoncé is part of a broader pattern in which he has publicly called for investigations or prosecutions of political opponents without presenting credible evidence. The latest remarks represent an escalation from a previous statement, when Trump suggested a “major investigation” into endorsement payments but stopped short of calling for charges. To date, no official agency has opened any investigation related to Beyonce’s participation in the 2024 Harris campaign event, and no credible source has confirmed any payment beyond standard event costs.

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