A graduation speech delivered by President Trump at Liberty College in Could 2017 bore exceptional similarities to at least one given by Reese Witherspoon’s character within the 2001 movie “Legally Blonde.”
On 15 Could 2017, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump delivered a graduation speech to the graduating class of Liberty College in Lynchburg, Virginia, comic Jimmy Fallon devoted half of his “Tonight Present” monologue to a video montage evaluating snippets from Trump’s speech to at least one given by Reese Witherspoon’s character, Elle Woods, within the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde:
The clip attained prompt notoriety, partly as a result of it was paying homage to a scandal that erupted throughout the 2016 presidential marketing campaign when Melania Trump gave a speech that borrowed closely from one Michelle Obama delivered in 2008. A variety of media retailers joined the Occupy Democrats Fb web page (see meme above) in sharing the Fallon clip beneath headlines declaring, with various levels of sarcasm, that Trump equally “plagiarized” from “Legally Blonde.”
“Trump’s graduation deal with casts hanging similarities to ‘Legally Blonde,'” famous Day by day Mail On-line with no detectable sense of irony (nor any obvious incapacity to discern what coloration hair Trump’s hair is):
Having a head of bleach blonde hair is not the one factor President Trump has in widespread with Reese Witherspoon’s character in Legally Blonde.
The 2 have an identical manner with phrases as properly.
As identified by Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Present, Trump’s graduation deal with at Liberty College this weekend drew parallels to the commencement speech that Elle Woods offers on the finish of the hit 2001 movie.
There is no such thing as a foundation in actuality for suggesting that Trump copied any a part of his speech from “Legally Blonde,” nonetheless. Albeit expertly executed for comedian impact, Fallon’s TV montage used a only a few cherry-picked moments from totally different components of Trump’s deal with to create the impression that the president echoed the Reese Witherspoon character’s phrases:
WOODS: “We take our subsequent steps into the world…”
TRUMP: “You should go forth into the world…”WOODS: “It’s with ardour…”
TRUMP: “Ardour…”WOODS: “Braveness of conviction…”
TRUMP: “Braveness in your convictions…”WOODS: “And most significantly…”
TRUMP: “Most significantly…”WOODS: “Place confidence in your self.”
TRUMP: “Be true to your self.”WOODS: “We did it.”
TRUMP: “I did it.”
Thought-about of their entireties, there are, in reality, no “hanging similarities” between Trump’s 32-minute, 3,800-word deal with and Witherspoon’s 60-second “Legally Blonde” speech, which consisted of no extra than 100 phrases. Right here is that speech:
On our very first day at Harvard, a really sensible Professor quoted Aristotle: “The legislation is motive free from ardour.” Properly, no offense to Aristotle, however in my three years at Harvard I’ve come to search out that zeal is a key ingredient to the research and observe of legislation — and of life. It’s with ardour, braveness of conviction, and powerful sense of self that we take our subsequent steps into the world, remembering that first impressions usually are not at all times appropriate. You should at all times think about individuals. And most significantly, it’s essential to at all times think about your self. Congratulations class of 2004 — we did it!
And here’s a video of Trump’s Liberty College graduation speech in its entirety (transcript):
