CNN media reporter Brian Stelter said President Trump’s bashing of Beyoncé over a “totally made-up claim” she received $11 million from Kamala Harris last year is a “concerning” attack on free speech.
Stelter, during a Monday morning appearance on CNN, recapped two social media posts from the president over the weekend — one in which President Trump said the singer and others should be “prosecuted” for being paid to endorse Harris last year, and another post in which he said TV networks should have their licenses revoked for being “political pawns” for Democrats.
“Even though Trump isn’t getting what he wants in these cases — he’s not getting Beyoncé behind bars or NBC off the airwaves — it is still concerning to free speech and free press advocates to know that those are the ideas that he is sharing with his followers,” Stelter said.
He added that it “potentially softens the ground for more autocratic actions in the future.”
A moment earlier, Stelter lauded Beyoncé for an “incredible weekend” in which she closed out her Cowboy Carter Tour with Destiny’s Child. But he said the headlines quickly turned from positive to “absurd” after the president said she had been paid $11 million by the former vice president in 2024.
“I’m looking at the large amount of money owed by the Democrats, after the Presidential Election, and the fact that they admit to paying, probably illegally, Eleven Million Dollars to singer Beyoncé for an ENDORSEMENT (she never sang, not one note, and left the stage to a booing and angry audience!),” the president posted on Truth Social on Saturday.
Stelter on Monday said that notion is bogus, noting that Harris only made a “small” $165,000 payment to Beyoncé’s production company last year. Trump, he added, went after “all liberals,” including Oprah and Al Sharpton, in his post calling for the trio to be prosecuted for illegally being paid for their endorsements.
“The only thing Trump is missing is any actual crime,” Stelter said. “There’s no evidence of a crime here.” You can watch the CNN segment below.
