President Donald Trump staged a DoorDash delivery at the White House on Monday as part of an effort to promote legislation passed last year that makes many tips exempt from federal income tax.
The woman who made the delivery wore a shirt that read “DoorDash Grandma,” and was quickly revealed to be a plant. And the PR person at DoorDash has been struggling with the online backlash, since many news outlets played along like her delivery to the Oval Office was some impromptu case of Trump getting the munchies.
Trump met the woman at the door of the Oval Office, where she handed him two bags of McDonald’s, and he said that he “heard” she “picked up an extra $11,000” as a result of his policies. The No Tax on Tips provision of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill was passed in July. The deduction begins for the 2025 tax year.
“DoorDash grandma a paid actor?” one X user wrote, including side-by-side photos of the woman as she appeared yesterday, as well as when she gave testimony in Nevada last year in favor of the tax policy.
DoorDash grandma a paid actor? 😭 https://t.co/TUgY5BMnnZ pic.twitter.com/2wEOqWa2s4
— Rodney (@cryptojourneyrs) April 14, 2026
The woman has been identified as 58-year-old Sharon Simmons from Arkansas, a grandmother of ten who started making deliveries for DoorDash in 2022, according to a press release from the company. And Julian Crowley, who works in Public Affairs at DoorDash, took major issue with people on social media who called her a paid actor.
“Nope she’s a Dasher and a grandma,” Crowley wrote, using the name of an independent contractor who does low-paid work for DoorDash without benefits. “She gave evidence to lawmakers to support No Tax on Tips. A policy which passed the Senate unanimously. She moved to Arkansas and then came to DC to celebrate No Tax on Tips becoming law.”
Simmons appeared on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning to reject the idea that she’s a “paid actor.”
DoorDash grandma Sharon Simmons: "I am not a paid actor" pic.twitter.com/ZG9euk0HPY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 14, 2026
Part of the problem is that many news outlets, like CBS News, covered the interaction at the White House without making it clear that it was staged. And Crowley seemed to grow increasingly frustrated as Monday wore on, at times getting hostile with the barrage of accusations that DoorDash was doing something dishonest.
“F A K E,” wrote on X user. Crowley responded, “P R E S S C O N F E R E N C E.”
Other people pointed out that she testified in Nevada last year on the issue of taxing tips. While she now lives in Arkansas, it appears she used to live in Nevada in 2025.
Crowley responded, “I love a conspiracy as much as the next person but man you need to touch grass. It was a special delivery to mark a policy that has bipartisan support with the media in attendance.”
Someone else on X replied with, “What’s the big deal here? Why are you insisting on pretending like this was a real delivery vs a planned PR event coordinated with the White House featuring a DoorDash spokesperson?”
Crowley took issue with that characterization, saying that she was “clearly” doing a planned event at the White House, but “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.”
Plenty of people online noticed Crowley’s frustration, with one Substack commentator writing, “it’s kinda hilarious that he thought DoorDash could do a photoshoot with a deeply unpopular president for a stupid policy with a fake employee ‘plant’ and that nobody would notice.”
Trump is incredibly unpopular, with the Economist’s average of polls showing just 38% of Americans approve of the president, while 56% disapprove. It’s genuinely puzzling why DoorDash thought it would be a PR win to hold an event with Trump.
Ironically, Trump nearly forgot to tip his DoorDash Grandma until a reporter asked Simmons whether the White House was a good tipper. The president eventually handed her a $100 bill.
Trump also asked if Simmons had voted for him, and she replied that “ah… maybe” she had. The president also tried to bait her into saying negative things about trans people, a prompt she didn’t dignify, explaining that she was just there to talk about taxes on tips. When Trump eventually turned to reporters after his awkward interaction, he was immediately asked about an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ. Trump said he thought it showed him as a doctor, a rather ridiculous lie.
Part of Simmons’ story is that her husband is undergoing cancer treatment, which is apparently the reason why the 58-year-old is working to make extra money. And that kicked off its own debate online about universal health care. People whose loved ones are suffering from serious illness should be able to get treatment without crippling bills, obviously. But working extra jobs is just part of the reality for many Americans when we get sick.
Several provisions from the One Big Beautiful Bill are starting to take effect, including not just the No Tax on Tips provision. There are also devastating cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs. The bill is booting many legal immigrants from SNAP, including asylum seekers and victims of trafficking. California, for example, started the process on April 1 in order to comply with the law, though each state has different timelines to accomplish it this before the end of the year.
The bill also creates expanded work requirements that apply to people who were previously exempt in order to qualify for food stamps, including veterans, the homeless, and former foster youth. California starts kicking those people off on June 1. Trump failed to mention any of that and denies that people are getting kicked off Medicaid and food stamps at all.
DoorDash didn’t respond to questions emailed on Tuesday about whether Simmons has been compensated by the company in any way, beyond her usual wages for deliveries on the platform. Gizmodo will update this article when we hear back.
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