The internet’s having a field day with Speechgate.
Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, was roasted by the Twitterverse on Tuesday morning after an eagle-eyed reporter realized that she had lifted at least 78 words from Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech.
“I’d like to thank two of my speech writers, Copy and Paste, for their help in preparing my remarks,” @JimmyHack tweeted.
Many pointed out that the level of similarity would not have been tolerated in an academic setting.
“As a college student, if I plagiarized as much as Melania did of Michelle’s speech, I would be kicked out so quickly. Just saying. #RNCinCLE,” @KendallKnaak tweeted.
“Melania is like that one person in the group project who doesn’t do anything til the morning of & so has to Wikipedia the answers,” @katyknowskungfu wrote.
Trump’s team denied any wrongdoing, instead characteristically dubbing it a “beautiful speech.”
“Melania’s team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking,” the Trump campaign said in a statement shortly after the Monday night speech. “Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success.”
Melania was probably like: "When I grew up on the Southside of Chicago… wait. No. That's not the part I was supposed to say."
— Awesomely Luvvie (@Luvvie) July 19, 2016
The gaffe spurred #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes, which attributes famous quotes to Trump’s 46-year-old wife, to be the top-trending hashtag in the US through Tuesday morning.
Hollywood stars including actress Anna Kendrick got in on the action.
“I have had it with these mothahf—–‘ snakes on this mothahf—–‘ plane” #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes,” Kendrick tweeted, referencing Samuel L. Jackson’s infamous line from the 2006 schlockfest “Snakes on a Plane.”
