This week, Jezebel reported that American Idol alum, Smash actress, Broadway star, and supposed LGBTQ ally Katharine McPhee allegedly donated $500 in 2020 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group that is working to maintain the GOP’s majority in the Senate.
After that story broke, Queerty reported that McPhee has allegedly donated waaay more than just $500 for waaay longer than just this year.
As it turns out, Federal Election Commission public records appear to show that she’s been giving thousands and thousands of dollars to Republican causes, including Donald Trump‘s reelection campaign, for well over a decade.
The more we dug into the story, the more we came to realize that, shocking as it may be to learn McPhee has allegedly been bankrolling antigay causes while pandering to queer audiences, she’s been doing it right in front our faces this entire time. We just weren’t paying close enough attention.
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Throughout her career, McPhee has professed her love for the LGBTQ community, who she has acknowledged have played a pivotal role in her success as a singer and musical theater actress.
In 2018, she went so far as to publish a “love letter” to her queer fans in Billboard, in which she wrote: “I’d like to express my unwavering support to the LGBTQ community and appreciation for how much love you’ve shown me throughout the years.”
“From my initial start on Idol, I always noticed the constant love you filled me with. It continued from my debut album to Smash, all the way through to my start on Broadway. I have always felt you right by my side, you’ve kept me going and stood by me every second, and for that I am grateful.”
McPhee has also participated in numerous charity events for organizations that benefit LGBTQ people, like Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
And among her nearly 275K Twitter followers are organizations like the NOH8 Campaign and GLAAD.
But underneath her veneer of “appreciation” for the LGBTQ community was a layer of normalized homophobia that, in hindsight, we should have picked up on much sooner.
Like how she has repeatedly referred to her gay fans by condescending pet names like “the gays” and “my gay boys.”
Or that time in 2018 when she recorded a backstage video before her Broadway debut in which she implied gay men love putting on makeup and fantasizing about pretty women in sparkly costumes who sing and dance.
The rumors are true – yes, I am going to give the gays everything they want. #KatOnBroadway pic.twitter.com/j9zWSTlNvB
— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) April 10, 2018
There was also a bizarre incident in 2017 involving McPhee’s then-boyfriend/now husband David Foster.
Foster, who is Canadian, headlined a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The event was attended by Donald Trump. Prior to performing, Foster joked from the stage, “Mr. President, I hope this doesn’t fracture Canadian-U.S. relations. I apologize in advance.”
Foster later claimed he didn’t know Trump would be in attendance, which seems like a stretch considering it was held at Trump’s estate while Trump was staying there. Then Foster said that he declined to perform at Trump’s inauguration… because he didn’t want to upset his friends who had supported Hillary Clinton.
McPhee was never reported to have attended the fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago; however, if a person can be known by the company they keep, and McPhee’s husband is known for being friendly with Trump, one can only wonder if she has a connection, as well.
And, according to the Federal Election Commission, she does!
Public records show that a self-employed actor in Los Angeles by the name of “Kat McPhee” and “Katharine McPhee” (presumably the same person) has donated $400 directly to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign this year, plus an additional $900 to the fundraising platform WinRed earmarked for Trump’s reelection campaign, and another $500 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Public records show McPhee also donated $1200 to the McCain/Palin campaign in 2008, plus an additional $1200 to the Republican National Committee that year. And in 2018, she gave another $1000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
And that’s just according to the Federal Election Commission’s website. Who knows what other antigay organizations and super PACs she’s been supporting in private?
All of this information, of course, has been publicly accessible for years. It’s just that nobody bothered looking for it before because they all assumed McPhee was the person she presents herself as on social media.
A person who celebrates Juneteenth (which her alleged candidate, Donald Trump, tried undermining by announcing a MAGA rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the largest race massacre in American history, that same day)…
Happy #JuneteenthDay. A true reason for us to make this a holiday- that commemorates the official end of slavery. So much they aren’t teaching us in our schools.
— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) June 20, 2020
A person who honors trans people (who her alleged candidate, Donald Trump, banned from the military and called a “distraction”)…
Trans women and men are beautiful. Don’t let anybody tell you your existence isn’t valid. Happy Pride month to you and anybody else who identifies as LGBTQ. I love you all! ???
— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) June 11, 2020
A person who mourned the murder of George Floyd (which her alleged candidate, Donald Trump, used to stoke racism and incite race wars)…
I’ve been at a loss of words for days trying to figure out the right thing to say. I still DON’T. What happened to George Floyd and has happened to countless other black men is absolutely despicable. My heart is so heavy.
— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) May 29, 2020
And a person who wants to make sure everyone exercises their right to vote (while her alleged candidate, Donald Trump, and other Republicans are doing everything they can to suppress the vote)…
voting matters ? register here: https://t.co/1QdiNXD9Rk #midterms2018 pic.twitter.com/5VrozgR8ab
— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) August 28, 2018
McPhee’s Instagram bio reads: “No life is perfect. Don’t let Instagram fool you.”
Perhaps this should have been our first clue. Perhaps she was signaling to her “gay boys,” er, fans all along that the person they love doesn’t really love them back, that her “unwavering support” isn’t really unwavering, and that she’ll happily accept their money, then turn around and give it away to very people who hate them.
McPhee has not issued any comment on her alleged political donations or the controversy they have caused.
Related: Gay Twitter eviscerates “ally” Katharine McPhee after she’s outed for donating to Republicans
Vince
Trump and the Republicans are busy stacking the courts with anti gay political hacks that will love nothing more then to strip gay people of their very right to exist.
You can’t financially support them and be an ally at the same time.
jayceecook
She hasn’t been hiding in plain sight. Y’all were just too stupid to notice. Like you failed to know she spent years as a Scientologist only to later say it was basically for d**k when called out. Or as she put it for an unattainable love. Many AI alums are Republican. People online used to keep a list of Republican AI alums. Dig through Reddit. She was called out for donating back when John McCain and that b***h from Alaska ran. Why Jezebel waited until now to dig all this up again is kind of silly. Obviously somebody there has an axe to grind with her or her husband.
Catholicslutbox
What’s jazebel? is that the singing group from shitt’s creek?
I thought everyone knew she was a trumpster. wasn’t it revealed years ago?
jayceecook
@Catholicslutbox That’s the Jazzagals are from Schitt’s Creek LMAO. Jezebel is a feminist blog site. Named after the biblical figure.
fredk
She lost her credibility when she married her rich grandfather.
Liquid Silver
If this is news to you, you have not been paying attention these long, long years.
Next up on Queerty: Ivanka Trump just might be a Republican. Story at 11.
James
She really is a two faced nobody……. donating to trump’s re-election campaign……. as if anybody but the nazi party wants four more years of Make America Hate Again.
Katharine McPhee, I used to like you, now I just find you phony.
Cam
Another bigot funding other bigots..
boymikefl
She’s a golddigger. I guess he’s Republican & if she didn’t follow like a puppy dog, she’s out in the rain tied to a tree. Melania, the same except she got her money locked up. Plotting for more if re-elected, I’m sure. Sellouts to strong, proud, independent women. Basically, prostituting their dignity for money.
jayceecook
He’s Canadian. Though being a very rich Canadian living in the US most of the time I’m sure he supports those that would *keep* him a very rich Canadian. Plus he has four other wifes he probably has to support.
What’s even kind of gross is that he has a sister who is the baby mamma to Clay Aiken’s kid. So I guess their family likes to keep it in the A.I. one.
ShiningSex
WHO CARES ABOUT HER??? NO ONE!!!! SHE’S GARBAGE. SHE MARRIED AN OLD FART FOR HIS MONEY BECAUSE HER CAREER IS CRAP.
SHE MAKES SHITTY MUSIC. END OF PERIOD.
tameron1
I always suspected that there was something fishy about her, then she married the old man, Foster, a very gold digger move on her part, but then she really has a boring talent. Now I know why she likes the Trumps, with Melania as an obvious gold digger role model and ex porn star from communist East Europe.
Now with her financial support for the re election of the criminal, and fascist Trump, it all makes since. To think that this stupid bitch thought she could get away with it and fly under the radar.
I would love a verified list of all the Nazi, Republican supporters in Hollywood, so I can boycott their projects.
DuMaurier
I don’t know much about her but her name, so maybe this doesn’t have the impact on me it does for others who thought of her a certain way before. I’d still like to see her put on the spot to explain, very specifically, how her public statements fit in with her political donations. What’s a bit depressing is that we’re in a time when uncovering a celebrity’s support for the U.S. president is the subject of investigative reporting into a major scandal, like exposing a chicken processing plant where human body parts are mixed in the with the fowl meat.
stagehand1
For myself, I feel duped. I had always been a fan. Now I will avidly go after anyone who hires her. Not that it will deny daddies deep pockets!
Hdtex
Gold digging bigoted whore.
frapachino
Burn her at the stake!
Cam
Awww, the right wing troll account trying to paint someone funding bigots as a victim.
Knightofhearts2017
*yawn*
All of you are RIDICULOUS. It’s sad that people waste their time caring about things like this.
Cam
The people who will now not buy her music find it interesting.
Why the effort to deflect from that?
Dick Mayhem
I find the whole celebrity ally thing to be problematic anyway. It seems to be a marketing ploy in many cases.
Josh in OR
Agreed.
I don’t give two shits what a celebrity SAYS. They SAY things all the time. It’s why we pay them.
I care what they DO. If they claim to support LGBT+ equality, great. But do you volunteer your time to causes? Do you donate to causes that support what you claim to be about? Do you speak about it publicly, even if it might ‘hurt’ your career? Or do you just talk a good game and donate to the enemy and hope no one catches on?
Words are just pretty hats we put on ugly truths.
Truth is in the doing.
TheMarc
Yeah…so instead of running a hundred stories on how Ellen’s a big meanie, you can focus on exposing those “allies” who will gladly display a rainbow flag on stage, but based on the receipts, could give a flying f about us. I’m far more concerned with lending support to a fake woke ally.
QJ201
Uncle, what is cancel culture?
Well there was this C list celebrity named Katherine McPhee
Who’s that uncle?
Exactly
Cam
Well deserved. Nobody wants to give money to a person who is helping other people harm them.
butchqueen
Muppet-faced bitch can go to hell. If your actions don’t match your words, you are full of shit.
Fname Optional Lname
I don’t know her.
Ginger Tom
Katherine McPhee sucks. Who in hell donates to a nut job like Trump? She must think her gay fans are beyond stupid.