'DoorDash Grandma' Slams Paid Actor Rumors After Clip Giving McDonald's to Donald Trump Goes Viral

A delivery driver known as the "DoorDash Grandma" went viral after delivering McDonald’s to President Donald Trump at the Oval Office on Monday, April 13.

She denied she was hired for the job. "I am not a paid actor. My life is just like everybody else's," Simmons said Tuesday, April 14, on Fox & Friends.

The event was a staged photo-op meant to promote the first anniversary of the "No Tax on Tips" policy, which is part of Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill.”

The woman was identified as Sharon Simmons, a 58-year-old grandmother of 10 and a full-time DoorDash driver from Fayetteville, Ark.

Simmons was flown from Arkansas to Washington, D.C., specifically for the event. While the delivery was not a "spontaneous" order, DoorDash officials clarified it was a planned event to showcase how the tax policy benefits Dashers.

Simmons shared that the "No Tax on Tips" law saved her family over $11,000 in taxes this year, which helped cover medical expenses as her husband battles stage 3 cancer.

While Trump mentioned Simmons’ husband’s cancer, not a single reporter or Simmons herself pushed back on his insistence that he has helped cancer patients.

The Trump administration has implemented several measures that have reduced or disrupted federal funding for cancer research.

While Congress has pushed back on some of the most drastic proposals, administrative actions such as grant freezes, layoffs, and policy changes have directly affected research institutions.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the primary federal agency for cancer research, paid out $842 million less in grants during Trump’s second term.

During the press conference, Trump handed Simmons a $100 cash tip on the spot. He also asked her political questions regarding trans athletes in sports, to which she responded that she was only there to discuss the tax policy.

Critics labeled Simmons a "MAGA prop" or "crisis actor," noting her previous testimony before a Ways and Means Committee field hearing in Nevada in 2025 to support the same bill.

Social media users mocked the interaction as "awkward" and "cringe," particularly Trump's line during the exchange: "It doesn't look staged now, does it?"

“She’s not even a DoorDash driver, she’s a paid actor for Trump’s Propaganda machine,” snapped one social media commenter, who accompanied his post with two separate pictures of Simmons at the White House and at the 2025 hearing.

Left-leaning influencer Molly Ploofkins blasted the delivery service, too, saying, “Shame on @DoorDash for participating in Trump’s 'no taxes on tips' scam. Aside from their D.C. DoorDash Grandma' being a GOP operative from Arkansas, it’s mathematically impossible for her to have saved $11,000 in taxes this year as a result of Trump’s bulls--- bill.”

"No tax on tips" is viewed by many analysts as a politically motivated policy rather than a broad financial benefit, with critics calling it a scam because it offers limited, temporary relief (up to 2028) that mainly helps higher earners. Many low-income tipped workers already owe zero federal income tax, meaning they receive no benefit.