Melania Trump accused of plagiarizing Michelle Obama speech, Rickrolling America

Some people thought Mrs. Trump's speech sounded a little too familiar.
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

UPDATED (11:09 p.m. PT): Updated to include initial Trump campaign statement.

Donald Trump may have brought some theatrics to the opening night of the Republican National Convention, but it's the speech by his wife, Melania Trump, that's now raising eyebrows.

Journalist Jarret Hill tweeted out an accusation shortly after Mrs. Trump's speech on Monday night accusing her of ripping off Michele Obama's speech from the 2008 Democratic National Convention.


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It's a baffling revelation, if true, especially given that she's reportedly been working with a speechwriter for the last five or six weeks. A speechwriter who could be facing the campaign's wrath in the morning.

Here's the transcript of Trump's speech, and the video.

From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your work is your bond, and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son, and we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow, because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

Hill included the text of the corresponding speech by Obama in his tweet; the entire transcript can be found at NPR. And for full comparison, here is the corresponding portion of Obama's speech on video.

While the first half of the alleged plagiarism is more similar in theme than in specific words, there's no denying those last few lines are, word for word, what Obama delivered in 2008.

And Hill wasn't the only one to pick up on it.

And plenty of other people had thoughts about the whole affair.

After the speech, Trump had his own praise of Melania's performance.

Later, in the wee hours of Tuesday morning in Cleveland, the Trump campaign put out a clumsy statement that admitted that Trump's "team of writers... included fragments that reflected her own thinking" but didn't outright deny the accusations.

Finally, we'll leave you with what was an apparent Rickroll by Melania in the same speech.

Additional reporting by Jason Abbruzzese.

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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