Claims that the Harris campaign paid Lizzo $2.3 million to appear at an event are unsubstantiated

Detroit-born rapper Lizzo, appeared Oct. 19 at a campaign rally in Michigan, encouraging people in the battleground state to support Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. 

In person, attendees applauded Lizzo’s brief speech. Online, some social media users said Lizzo’s support cost the campaign a pretty penny. 

"BREAKING: Lizzo charged the Harris-Walz campaign $2.3 million for a single appearance at a Detroit rally," read an Oct. 22 post by an X user whose account is affiliated with a conservative account, @ConservativeOG. 

Other Republicans shared this claim on X, including Sean Spicer, onetime press secretary to former President Donald Trump and an account. "You have to be pretty desperate to pay @lizzo to appear at a rally," Spicer wrote when he reshared the $2.3 million claim on X Oct. 22. 

The claim also appeared on Instagram and Facebook, where it was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

(Screenshots from Instagram and X)

During her speech, Lizzo praised her birthplace of Detroit — a response to Trump’s recent criticism of the city — and said she voted early and voted for Harris, emphasized the importance of casting a ballot and said "it’s about damn time" the U.S. had a woman president — a reference to her 2022 hit song.

We found no evidence that Lizzo was paid to make those remarks. The Harris campaign confirmed to PolitiFact that the posts’ claims are untrue.

We searched using Google and Nexis, a news database, and we found no credible news reports or other indications that the Harris-Walz campaign paid Lizzo for her appearance at the Harris event or her endorsement.

We also reviewed Harris’ Federal Election Commission filings, looking for instances in which the campaign spent about $2.3 million. On July 1 and Aug. 2, the Harris campaign spent about $2.3 million for "media buy & production," according to the FEC. We found no campaign payments to Lizzo or for any celebrity endorsement, but the most recent payment data available on the FEC’s website is from Sept. 30. 

If the campaign had paid for an endorsement, federal law requires campaigns disclose the reason for a payment. The campaign disclosed one June 14 $75 payment for "endorsement-related expenses"  to the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund. 

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Although several of the posts on X used the word "BREAKING," as in "breaking news," none of the posts we found linked to the source of the Lizzo claim they repeated. 

(Screenshots from X)

We tried to reach Lizzo by contacting her agent and record label but received no response. 

We rate unproven claims that the Harris-Walz campaign paid $2.3 million for Lizzo’s appearance at a Michigan rally False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird and Staff Writer Samantha Putterman contributed to this report.

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