When vice president Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff attended a sold-out stop on Beyonce’s Renaissance tour last summer, they did so as guests of Queen Bey herself.
According to a copy of Ms Harris’ annual financial disclosure form, the tickets for her and her husband cost $1655.92 and were gifted to them by one Beyonce Knowles-Carter, the full name of the superstar who performed to a capacity crowd at FedEx Field outside Washington on 6 August last year.
The second couple’s attendance at the show wasn’t on her public schedule for that day, but the vice president later took to her personal social media channels to post a photo of her and Mr Emhoff and thank the superstar “for a fun date night”.
Additionally, Ms Harris disclosed another gift from ESPN, the Disney-owned, sports-focused cable television network: Tickets to the HBCU Celebration Bowl.
That college football game, which served as the de facto championship among Historically Black Colleges and Universities, took place in Atlanta last December and was contested between Florida A & M University and Ms Harris’ undergraduate alma mater, Howard University.
The vice president’s disclosure form listed the value of those tickets at $1,890.
Although Ms Harris received the tickets to those events as gifts, her financial disclosure form makes clear that she and Mr Emhoff — a former high-powered entertainment attorney who gave up a lucrative law firm partnership when his wife was elected to the vice presidency — could have easily purchased them on their own.
In addition to her federal salary of $284,600 per year, Ms Harris and Mr Emhoff reported $117,000 in income from book royalties and returns on their bank and retirement accounts. The couple also listed total financial holdings in the area of $2.89m.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden also filed similar financial disclosures as required by the Ethics in Government Act. In addition to his $400,000 salary, Mr Biden and Dr Biden earned $64,300 in outside income, which they listed as coming from royalties from their books and proceeds from their retirement accounts.
The First Couple reported debts between $375,000 and $815,000 from mortgages and home equity loans, but also listed assets over $1m.
