Stars React To Similarities Between Melania Trump And Michelle Obama´s 2008 Speech

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Tue Jul 19, 2016 11:49AM

Stars including Sophia Bush and Rumer Willis have reacted online to allegations Melania Trump plagiarized a speech made by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama for her own address.

Melania, the wife of presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, took to the stage at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday (18Jul16) to give a speech and it was noted that a portion of her address about family values featured a striking resemblance to a speech Michelle gave at a Democratic convention in 2008.

Many celebrities took to Twitter to blast Melania for plagiarism, including Debra Messing, who wrote, "OMG... Melania Trump´s speech is plagarized (sic) from Michelle Obama´s ´08 speech. In one passage, 22 words out of 26 words are IDENTICAL," while actress Sophia Bush wrote to Trump, "So you like FLOTUS´ (Obama´s) speeches so much you had your speech writer copy 1 for your wife tonight?? Vetting process? ROFL (rolling on the floor with laughter)."

In an interview with NBC after the speech, Melania maintained that she wrote the speech "with as little help as possible" and more stars reacted to her comment, including Grey´s Anatomy star Jesse Williams, who quoted her and added, "Not just a lie: an unnecessary, transparent & bizarrely nonsensical lie" and Rumer Willis wrote, "Wow just speechless...Is this a joke? I think she might have missed the punchline..."

In response to the speech, the hashtag #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes was created on Twitter to poke fun at Melania by tweeting famous lines that she could take for her own use.

Anna Kendrick used Samuel L. Jackson´s famous Snakes on a Plane quote, and tweeted, "´I have had it with these mothahf**kin´ snakes on this mothahf**kin´ plane´ #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes," while Jesse picked Martin Luther King´s famous speech, "´I have a dream´ #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes," and Rumer referenced her dad Bruce Willis´ movie Die Hard by writing, "Yippee Kay Yay Mother F**ker #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes."

Former Chief speechwriter for President Barack Obama, Jon Favreau, also claimed Michelle´s head speech writer Sarah Hurwitz used to work for Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

A statement posted on Melania´s Twitter page, written by Senior Communications Advisor Jason Miller, reads, "In writing her beautiful speech, Melania´s team of writers took note on her life´s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking."