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Populist leader alleged to have ‘copied word for word’ a monologue by TV show’s fictional president Jed Bartlet

Argentina’s rightwing populist president, Javier Milei, has been accused of plagiarising a chunk of his recent speech to the United Nations general assembly from the political drama The West Wing.

“It seems like fiction, but it isn’t,” the left-leaning Buenos Aires newspaper Página 12 reported on Friday, claiming Milei had “copied, word for word, a monologue” by the television show’s fictional president, Josiah “Jed” Bartlet.

Suspicions over Milei’s address surfaced this week when the political columnist Carlos Pagni flagged the “extraordinary” similarities between part of the president’s speech and words uttered by Martin Sheen’s Bartlet 21 years earlier. “Didn’t anyone else notice?” Pagni wrote in the newspaper La Nación, before transcribing the words of both men.

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[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 6 points 9 hours ago

Way worse places to steal your speeches from

[-] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 8 points 11 hours ago

The likeness between the two speeches raised Argentinian eyebrows and was attributed by one newspaper to the West Wing obsession of Milei’s chief strategist, Santiago Caputo. “Fanatical about the screenwriter [and creator of the series] Aaron Sorkin, Caputo has watched the whole of The West Wing between seven and nine times,” La Nación reported this year.

So... 8 times?

[-] kzhe@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 hours ago

No, I think the phrasing means 7, 8, or 9 even though technically neither 7 or 9 are between 7 and 9, it's like figurative

[-] MimicJar@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Perhaps even funnier, this year marks the 25th anniversary of The West Wing. The reason I know that is a new West Wing YouTube celebrating the anniversary just appeared and starting posting videos of the highlights.

If you visit this channel and look at the top video, you find the exact video he plagiarized the speech from. https://youtu.be/sZ_Q-3AhoAs

So this wasn't a speech he likely remembered and plagiarized, this is likely just a helpful YouTube recommendation.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 78 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

"Suspicious were raised early when President Milei departed from his typical Spanish and began speaking not only in perfect English, but with a slight New Hampshire accent. Further concerns were raised at the end of the speech where he told waiting reports to refer any questions to his press secretary CJ Cregg." /s

[-] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago

I ate your onion and was about to quibble about the New Hampshire accent.

[-] modifier@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago
[-] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 day ago
[-] psvrh@lemmy.ca 53 points 1 day ago

What it it with right wingers and stupid hair?

[-] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago

And plagiarized speeches?

[-] Fester@lemm.ee 34 points 1 day ago

They need to look like cartoon characters to hold short bursts of attention from their fans.

[-] Myxomatosis@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

The image they project is all a part of the grift. All style, no substance.

[-] DontMakeMoreBabies@lemm.ee 32 points 1 day ago

The West Wing was great - I'd take a President Bartlett over our present options any day.

[-] Lustrate@lemm.ee 25 points 1 day ago

Literally two weeks ago at the White House for the 25th anniversary of the show… what an insane orator.

https://youtu.be/kY-EbEVCPUw?feature=shared

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Jed Bartlett 2024!

[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 7 points 1 day ago

What's Magic Head doing there?

[-] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 11 points 1 day ago

It’s only stupid if it doesn’t work.

[-] Grabthar@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

His dog told him to do it, so you can't really blame him, right?

[-] mossberg590@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

To be fair, he can't afford that quality of writing.

[-] Eldritch@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Aaaah the Herman Cain method. Be the best, like no one ever was!

[-] tal@lemmy.today 5 points 1 day ago

Well, if I remember correctly, Milei's thing is reining in the budget or something, right? I guess that's one way to save money!

[-] Siegfried@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Not the first time also

[-] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

Reverse Wolverine strikes again!

this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2024
322 points (97.6% liked)

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