White House DoorDash delivery prompts unsubstantiated 'actor' claims
- Published on April 16, 2026 at 21:05
- 2 min read
- By Sahas WIJEWARDENE, AFP USA
Sharon Simmons is a documented DoorDash driver who was invited to be the first person to deliver McDonald's directly to Donald Trump, a well-known fast-food lover, at the White House. The event was coordinated to promote the US president's policy eliminating taxes on tips, but on social media, people seized on a past appearance by Simmons in support of the legislation to question whether she is truly a gig economy worker.
"She's not even a door dash driver, she's a paid actor for Trump's Propaganda machine," claims an April 13, 2026 X post presenting two pictures of Simmons, one with black hair and a white top speaking in front of a microphone and a second from the White House where her hair is grey and she sports a red shirt with the text, "DoorDash Grandma."
Similar posts questioning her employment with the delivery company were found across Facebook and Bluesky.
On TikTok, one user referred to her as a "crisis actor," a conspiratorial term commonly deployed to a dismiss victims following mass shootings or natural disasters.
The posts followed the April 13 delivery by Simmons to the Oval Office.
During her encounter with the president, she mentioned how the elimination of taxes on tips under Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" has helped her family (archived here and here). After he accepted the bags of burgers, he tipped her with a $100 bill.
The White House also posted a video of the interaction ahead of the April 15 tax filing deadline (archived here).
Security protocols for visiting the White House necessitated the president's interaction with Simmons to be carefully pre-planned (archived here).
The president even joked as he greeted her in the presence of reporters: "This doesn't look staged, does it?"
But no evidence supports the online claims that Simmons was hired as an actor.
Confirmed 'Dasher'
DoorDash released a statement on April 13 confirming Simmons has completed over 14,000 deliveries (archived here).
The company's head of public affairs, Julian Crowley, also took to X to address questions about the event (archived here).
"No one is claiming it was a real delivery. It was clearly and obviously a planned event to mark a new policy starting. To claim Sharon is a prop, plant or an actor is totally wrong and off base. She is a Dasher and she participated to support the policy that benefits her," Crowley said on April 13.
AFP also found her LinkedIn profile which mentions she has been a DoorDash associate for more than five years (archived here).
The posts are correct that this is not the first time Simmons had appeared in support of legislation to eliminate taxes on tips.
The image of her in a white top, seen on social media, stems from July 2025 testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee during a hearing held in the state of Nevada (archived here).
"The flexibility that DoorDash provides is paramount to my daily schedule: I can work when I want and for how long I want and there's no boss telling me when and where I have to show up," she said (archived here).
Some posts claim Simmons simultaneously holds active DoorDash accounts in multiple states, implying her work history is fabricated. But in an appearance on Fox & Friends, Simmons said she has lived and worked in the states of Nebraska and Nevada, but now lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas (archived here).
She categorically denied being a "paid actor."
Find more of AFP's reporting on misinformation surrounding US politics here.
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