Cardi B had said she paid ‘out of pocket’ for Harris campaign appearance
Kamala Harris’s campaign paid nearly $100,000 to a shell company for former president Barack Obama to travel to events and roughly $60,000 to rapper Cardi B, who said she “didn’t get a dollar” to appear alongside the failed presidential candidate.
Harris for President paid $95,576 to Renegade44, LLC. for “travel” expenses and $58,867 to Washpoppin, Inc. for “campaign event production,” according to campaign records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. Public records show the firms are owned by Obama and Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Cephus, respectively.
It’s the latest example of the Harris campaign’s elaborate spending on celebrities and influencers—a spending spree that has stoked intense scrutiny after Harris’s decisive loss to President Donald Trump. The campaign spent $1.5 billion in just three months, with tens of millions of dollars going to celebrities and activists, most of whom did not disclose their payments from the Harris campaign. The campaign records also undercut Cardi B’s public comments about her appearance at a Harris event in Milwaukee on Nov. 1.
“I didn’t get paid a dollar and that’s on my three!!” Cardi B, referring to her three children, said in a social media exchange with pundit Candace Owens on Nov. 14. “I actually came out of pocket for glam and travel because it’s somewhere I wanted to be.”
The Harris campaign paid Cardi B’s company on Dec. 12, records show. The terms and timeline of the campaign’s agreement with Cardi B’s firm were not immediately clear. Representatives for the rapper and Harris did not respond to requests for comment.
Cardi B didn’t perform any songs at the Harris campaign event. She spoke for 10 minutes, saying she “wasn’t going to vote” in the election until Harris entered the race against “bully” Trump. “Vice President Kamala Harris, thank you for having me. I do not take lightly the call to show up,” she said.
Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama appeared at events in Atlanta, Detroit, and Pittsburgh on behalf of the Harris campaign. Obama sparked controversy after his Oct. 10 appearance in Pittsburgh, during which he suggested many black men harbored misogynistic beliefs about Harris.
A lack of enthusiasm for Harris, Obama said, “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”
“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president,” he said.
Harris spent millions more on other influencers and musicians to appear at campaign events. The campaign paid $2.5 million to Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, to produce a campaign event in Michigan on Sept. 19. Winfrey claimed the massive payment was not for an endorsement, but instead went to help produce the event.
The campaign paid $165,000 to the production company of Beyoncé Knowles, who gave a four-minute stump speech for Harris at an event in Houston on Oct. 25, the Free Beacon reported. Harris paid a number of artists from rock legend Bruce Springsteen to Latin music star Ricky Martin to rappers 2 Chainz and Fat Joe.
According to its latest financial report, the Harris campaign paid $132,753 to Mermaid Touring, the company of pop star Lady Gaga, $132,335 to August 8, Inc., the company owned by singer Gracie Abrams, and $98,000 to TGK Touring, the company of R&B crooner Khalid. All performed and spoke at campaign events with Harris in the waning days of the campaign.
Harris has faced scrutiny over payments to other influential activists. The campaign donated $500,000 to the nonprofit of Al Sharpton just days before the activist interviewed Harris on his MSNBC show on Oct. 21, the Free Beacon reported. Media ethics groups called the payment a “black eye” for Sharpton, MSNBC, and the journalism profession. President Donald Trump asserted the payment was “illegal.”
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