Late Sunday night (May 18th), President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account to call out Bruce Springsteen and other entertainers who supported 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris, asking the federal government to conduct a “major investigation” into their endorsements.
“HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT? WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN’T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ?…AND HOW MUCH WENT TO OPRAH, AND BONO???” Trump wrote.
“I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter. Candidates aren’t allowed to pay for ENDORSEMENTS, which is what Kamala did, under the guise of paying for entertainment. In addition, this was a very expensive and desperate effort to artificially build up her sparse crowds. IT’S NOT LEGAL! For these unpatriotic ‘entertainers,’ this was just a CORRUPT & UNLAWFUL way to capitalize on a broken system.”
In a separate post the next morning, Trump claimed that “Beyoncé was paid $11,000,000 to walk onto a stage, quickly ENDORSE KAMALA, and walk off to loud booing for never having performed.”
“BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, OPRAH, BONO AND, PERHAPS, MANY OTHERS, HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!!” he added.
This past November, Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles denied the singer was paid to appear at Kamala’s rally in Houston, saying that Beyoncé paid her own way. Similarly, Oprah told TMZ last year that she was not paid for her endorsement. According to TMZ, both Beyoncé and Oprah’s production companies were reportedly paid for media services, but not the amount Trump is claiming.
This came just days after Springsteen expressed his dislike of the current administration, saying in part during his show in Manchester, England on May 14th:
“In my home, the America I love… is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration…
“There’s some very weird, strange, and dangerous sh*t going on out there. In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now.”
The following Friday (May 16th), Trump warned Springsteen that he “ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT,” writing on Truth Social “we’ll all see how it goes for him” once the rock star returns home to the United States after his tour.
Despite Trump’s warnings, Springsteen again called out the President while performing his second of three concerts in Manchester, England on Saturday (May 17th).
“Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy, and they’re too important to ignore,” Springsteen stated, before echoing much of the same things he said during his May 14th show.
“In my country, they are taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers. They are rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and moral society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They are defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They are removing residents off American streets and without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now.”
