No, this photo does not picture U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris as a prostitute

The context

With Joe Biden stepping down as the Democratic presidential candidate and Kamala Harris emerging as the likely successor, numerous misleading claims about the current vice president have surfaced online.

One such claim involves a photo of two women posted on X (formerly Twitter) by a user, alleging it depicts "BOMBSHELL FOOTAGE… OF KAMALA HARRIS AS PROSTITUTE."

However, this claim is false. The woman in the photo is not recognizably Kamala Harris.

What we found

A black-and-white photo of two women standing beside a car has recently been circulated online. Some users have shared it, claiming that the woman in the black dress is Kamala Harris, although the woman's face is not visible. The woman's hair is the most distinguishing feature in the photograph, and its curl pattern and style do not match Harris's hairstyle in the late 1980s.

The photo attached to the claim regarding Harris, titled "For Sale," was taken in New York by renowned street photographer Matt Weber in 1988. Given that Kamala Harris was attending the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, and graduated in 1989, it is highly improbable she was simultaneously involved in sex work in New York. Additionally, a 1989 graduation photo shows that she consistently wore a short hairstyle throughout the late 1980s.

Logically Facts contacted Weber, who characterized the use of his image as a "pathetic reach," adding, "You know it is not Kamala, and the instantaneous posting of this image is such an example of desperation."

Matt Wallace, a user on X with 1.9 million followers, posted the photo as a thumbnail for a Rumble video titled "LEAKED FOOTAGE OF KAMALA HARRIS AS PROSTITUTE." The video focuses on Harris's alleged sexual relations, suggesting that her successful political career is due to connections with powerful men.

Wallace frequently posts misleading content on both X and Rumble. For instance, a recent video titled "Joe Biden's Final Moments Caught on Camera" falsely suggests that U.S. President Joe Biden has passed away, despite him being alive.

Recently, numerous claims about Harris's sexual history have emerged, seemingly aimed at undermining her competence as the U.S. presidential elections draw near. One recent claim is that she dated rapper P. Diddy in the early 2000s. Additionally, Logically Facts has debunked several claims about Harris, including the false assertion that she is ineligible to be U.S. president and the unfounded rumor that she called for lowering the age of consent to 12.

The verdict

The post's author, known for spreading clickbait and misleading information, has made an unverified claim. The woman's face in the photo is not visible, making it impossible to identify her as Kamala Harris. Moreover, at the time the photo was taken, Harris was studying in San Francisco, making it highly unlikely that she was simultaneously involved in sex work in New York. Therefore, this claim has been marked as false.

Follow Logically Facts' coverage and fact-checking of the U.S. Election 2024 here.

(Note: This article was updated on July 23, 2023, to add comment from the original photographer of the image, Matt Weber.)