REPORT: Oprah Event Cost More Than Double of Initial Reports

Ever since the election has been over, reports have been blowing up that after raising more than $1.6 billion in three months through all fundraising outlets, the Harris campaign is about $20 million the red.

Part of the reason was the enormous price tag of events that Harris held down the stretch.

One of those events has been getting a lot of attention, and it is about to get even more… that being the town hall that was held with Oprah Winfrey.

Big Price Tag

Harris’ campaign was flush with money, so how she ended up in the red is beyond me, but she managed to do it.

Part of the reason was that Harris was doubling down on a negative campaign that was sinking.

Secondly, Harris paid through the nose over the last few weeks of her campaign for celebrity endorsements and campaign events.

One of those events was a town hall that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey.

Initial reports claimed that Harris paid Harpo Productions, the production company owned by Oprah, $1 million for the event.

Now, reports are surfacing that the full price tag for the event was actually $2.5 million.

After that big paycheck, Oprah stated that she was not paid a penny directly by the Harris campaign, not did she receive any direct fee.

That, of course, was all semantics because Oprah’s production company got the check, and that money less expenses will eventually wind up in Oprah’s bank account.

Even so, Oprah continues to claim she was paid nothing, posting on social media, “I was not paid a dime. 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.”

That is just one part of it, however.

Harris also spent nearly $1 million on ads at The Sphere in Las Vegas for the final week of the campaign.

Several friends of Harris in the media were able to get some big paychecks, such as Areva Martin being paid $200,000 and Roland Martin getting a check for a cool $350,000.

My guess is that Harris figured she was going to win, so she kept spending, thinking she could immediately refire the campaign engine for her 2028 run.

I have no doubt some creative bookkeeping will take place to get Harris’ books flush, but I really have to wonder if the money machine will continue to donate to a party as it has in the past after a record-breaking loss to Trump in the 2024 election.