The 2024 presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris is now trying to claim that it did not pay a large sum of money to Oprah Winfrey in exchange for her endorsement. 

Aides of the Harris campaign, according to the Hollywood Reporter, are the ones who are now trying to make this claim.

Winfrey herself has made a similar claim.

Suffice it to say that many are not buying it.

Background

On of the big post-election stories has been the revelation that Harris's presidential campaign ended about $20 million in debt, despite the fact that it raised over $1 billion. This was both far more than Harris's opponent, President-Elect Donald Trump, raised and far more than he spent.

But, this is only half of the story. The other half is the revelation, from the Washington Times, that Harris spent roughly $20 million on celebrity events.

Per the outlet:

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign spent at least $20 million on celebrity appearances during her failed presidential bid, federal election records revealed. The payments covered the costs of events with Hollywood A-listers, though it’s unclear whether the celebrities pocketed any of the money.

The outlet went on to claim that Winfrey got $1 million for the event that she did with Harris. It also reveals how much Harris's campaign paid other celebrities.

Now, however, this reporting is being disputed.

Multiple denials

Winfrey has come out and said that she was not paid $1 million by Harris's campaiang.

She said:

Usually I am reluctant to respond to rumors in general, but these days I realize that if you don’t stop a lie, it gets bigger. 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, crew, producers and every other item necessary (including the benches and the 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.

Harris's campaign aides are now also saying as much.

Dateline reports:

Adrienne Elrod, who served as senior adviser and senior spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told Deadline, “We do not pay. We have never paid any artist and performer. We have never paid a fee to that person.”

There is no doubt that Harris and her people are hoping that this story will just go away, but it does not appear to be.