Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Scolds Oprah Winfrey over $1 Million Kamala Harris Payment to Harpo Productions
Oprah Winfrey is getting chewed out by her hometown newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, whose editorial board has chastised the former talkshow queen over the $1 million her production company reportedly received from the Kamala Harris campaign to produce the candidate’s celebrity-packed, livestreamed conversation in September.
In an op-ed published Thursday, the Chicago Tribune‘s editorial board took Oprah Winfrey to task not just for allowing her company to accept the $1 million payment, but for agreeing to host the event in the first place, arguing that Kamala Harris would have been better served had she sat down with a journalist, not a celebrity.
The newspaper also called out Oprah Winfrey for publicly denying that she personally received the $1 million, when it was her Harpo Productions that did. The newspaper appeared to be suggesting that Oprah was trying to skate on a technicality.
“It’s true that production workers need to be paid and that’s fair enough; they’re not donors,” the editorial board wrote. “And, frankly, $1 million is not all that much to Winfrey and so we very much doubt that she was seeking any kind of personal payday from her chosen candidate. But she does own Harpo and serves as its chairwoman and CEO. The production fees should have been a campaign donation.”
The Tribune called the September conversation between Oprah Winfrey and Kamala Harris a “starry infomercial.”
“Rather than do such events, the Harris campaign would have been better advised to let its candidate answer questions from independent journalists and give her more of a chance to explain herself and lay out her plans for America’s future,” the op-ed said.
“Celebrity osmosis did not work; voters wanted to hear more about what Harris would do for them.”
The Tribune editorial board didn’t endorse any presidential candidates this year. The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times also abstained in a symbolic blow to Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris’ failed bid for the White House has come under intense scrutiny in recent days after it was revealed that her campaign splurged big time on celebrities in an attempt to juice voter enthusiasm and turnout. As Breitbart News reported, the campaign ended $20 million in debt even after raising a whopping $1 billion from donors.
Among the big expenditures was a series of election-eve concerts featuring Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and other pop stars. The production cost associated with those concerts was reportedly as much as $20 million.
The $1 million payout to Oprah’s production company has added fuel to the criticism that Kamala Harris was more focused on cultivating an elite Hollywood aura than addressing the concerns of ordinary Americans.
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