Clinton Campaign Paid Beyonce, Jay-Z $62 Million to Secure Black Vote-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Desperate to secure the black vote ahead of Election Day, the Clinton Campaign paid Beyonce and Jay-Z $62 million to perform a concert in Cleveland.
The Truth:
There’s no truth to reports that the Clinton Campaign paid Beyonce and Jay-Z millions to shore up the support of black voters.
Empire Herald, a fake news website, started the rumor with a story that was shared on social media nearly 50,000 times in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election. The story begins:
Cleveland, Ohio – Beyonce and Jay Z performed for “free” at the Get out the Vote concert last night for Hillary Clinton. However, sources revealed that the power couple was paid $62 Million to perform.
According to sources closely connected with the power couple, Clinton and her campaign flew Beyonce and Jay Z out to a private meeting to discuss the election. With Hillary lacking the African-American voting numbers that Barack Obama had during his 2008 presidential, the Clinton campaign made a quick and desperate move in their final efforts to secure African-American votes.
“Jay and Beyonce got a call a few weeks ago from Clinton. She invited them for a weekend stay at a luxury hotel to meet regarding the election. Before Jay Z or Beyonce could voice any concerns or ask questions, Hillary pulled out a check. Beyonce saw the check first and her eye lit up like Christmas lights. On the last day of the meeting, Hillary told said to everyone, including Jay Z and Beyonce, “We definitely got the black vote now.”
On the flight back to New York, Jay Z said, “You know what, Black Lives Matter, they matter because we got paid $62 Million to represent them.”
Empire Herald doesn’t clearly identify itself as a fake or satirical new site, which led some to mistake this report about the Clinton campaign paying for Beyonce and Jay-Z’s support as truthful. However, earlier versions of the website clearly state that it’s a “satire & entertainment” site, as shown in this Way Back Machine screen grab from January 2016:
Given that Empire Herald isn’t a credible website, we’re calling this one “fiction.”