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Melania Trump speech at Republican convention ridiculed by US late-night TV hosts including Fallon and Colbert

'She delivered her speech like a true First Lady. That First Lady being Michelle Obama'

Jack Shepherd
Wednesday 20 July 2016 10:23 BST
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Michelle melania speech plagiarized

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Melania Trump's speech at the Republican Convention in Cleveland was supposed to show how her husband Donald Trump, was, deep down, a family man, with values the American people as a whole can relate to.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go to plan as a Twitter backlash ensued soon after, social media users noting similarities between Mrs. Trump’s speech and one delivered by Michelle Obama at a past Democratic Convention.

Since the similarities were noted, Mrs. Trump revealed to the Today Show that she wrote the speech "with as little help as possible” , while Mr. Trump’s chairman noted "a couple of phrases" may have been similar to the First Lady’s.

Of course, US late-night hosts from across the spectrum were quick to poke fun at the Republican Presidential candidate’s wife and the ensuing ‘plagiarism’ claims.

Kicking things off was Stephen Colbert, who, in a segment similar to those seen on the Colbert Report, invited ‘Melania Trump’ onto the show to defend herself.

Played by Laura Benanti, Mrs. Trump took to the podium, backed by the American flag, to deliver a speech that borrowed from Charles Dickens, Dr. Seuss and The Fresh Prince.

Jimmy Fallon also set up a podium on his show, but instead of Mrs. Trump appearing, The Donald himself (played by Fallon) delivered a hilarious speech including the lines "Did you see Melania? She stole the show, literally," and "She delivered her speech like a true First Lady. That First Lady being Michelle Obama.”

The UK’s own James Corden also got in on the action, introducing a ‘brand new segment’ called ‘Top 10 list’, an almost exact copy of David Letterman’s segment. Reading out ‘excuses ‘Melania gave for plagiarising Michelle Obama's speech’, Corden poked fun at both Letterman and Mrs. Trump.

Seth Meyers dedicated his ‘Closer Look’ segment to the convention, delivering the brilliant line: "Melania did it. She found something less original than being a model married to an old billionaire.”

Mrs. Trump wasn’t the only one to cause controversy at the conventions; Mr. Trump’s use of ‘We Will Be Champions’ angered the band Queen who claimed it was an ‘unauthorised’ use of their song.

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