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Mike Pence's fly

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"The fly"
Mike Pence with the fly on his head
Other name(s)Mike Pence's fly
SpeciesMusca domestica[citation needed]
Known forLanding and resting on the head of Mike Pence during the 2020 United States vice presidential debate

"The fly", also known as Mike Pence's fly, was a housefly that flew onto Mike Pence's head and rested on it for approximately two minutes[a] during the 2020 United States vice presidential debate.

Background

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On October 7, 2020, then-Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris engaged in a vice presidential debate as part of the 2020 United States presidential election. During the debate, a fly landed on Pence's head for approximately two minutes.[3] According to Alvaro Romero, an associate professor of urban entomology at New Mexico State University, flies have a tendency for landing on white objects, and the fly at the debate may have been attracted to Pence's head due to his hair color.[4]

Reactions

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Social media reaction

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The appearance of the fly would cause discussion on social media mainly on Twitter with "the fly" being tweeted and retweeted over 700,000 in the days after the debate.[5] Many accounts would be created pretending to be the fly who flew on Mike Pence's head.[6] The domain flywillvote.com was also obtained by the Biden campaign, and merchandise focusing on the incident was created[7][8] The moment became viral and spawned many Internet memes.[9][10]

Political response

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Joe Biden X logo, a stylized letter X
@JoeBiden

Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly. https://joe.link/3nvsFwL

8 October, 2020[11]

The public reaction to the fly would cause Joe Biden to make a tweet promoting the campaign with an image of him holding a fly swatter.[12]

The New York Times reported that the fly "ruined" Pence's image and undermined his perceived competence as somebody that could become United States president.[13] Additionally, The Washington Post drew comparisons between the event and the symbolism of flies in Western art, pointing out that they represent death, rot, decay, and corruption, potentially mirroring common perceptions of the Trump–Pence 2020 campaign as a whole.[4]

Notes

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  1. ^ The exact time the fly spent on Mike Pence's head is either 2 minutes and 2 seconds or 2 minutes and 3 seconds depending on the source.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ Krieg, Gregory (October 8, 2020). "A small insect grabs debate night viewers and its place in history". CNN. Retrieved October 6, 2024. For 122 seconds on Wednesday night, the vice presidential debate was hijacked by an insect interloper.
  2. ^ Corasaniti, Nick (October 8, 2020). "How the Internet Viewed the Vice-Presidential Debate". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2024. It sat there for two minutes and three seconds…
  3. ^ O'Kane, Caitlin (October 8, 2020). "A fly landed on Mike Pence's head during the debate and rested there for nearly two minutes". CBS News. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Judkis, Maura (8 October 2020). "Life imitates art, and so a fly landed on Mike Pence's head". The Washington Post.
  5. ^ "VP debate 2020: Kamala Harris v Mike Pence outshone by fly". BBC News. October 8, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2024. The phrase "the fly" has been tweeted and retweeted more than 700,000 times since it appeared during the debate.
  6. ^ "VP debate 2020: Kamala Harris v Mike Pence outshone by fly". BBC News. October 8, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2024. Myriad social media accounts have been created by people seeking to get in on the act, with one picking up more than 10,000 followers on Twitter.
  7. ^ O'Kane, Caitlin (October 8, 2020). "A fly landed on Mike Pence's head during the debate and rested there for nearly two minutes". CBS News. Retrieved October 6, 2024. He also obtained the flywillvote.com domain within minutes of the viral moment.
  8. ^ Powel, James. "Fly lands on Trump's face during press event, echoing Mike Pence's viral 2020 debate moment". USA Today. Retrieved October 6, 2024. The moment became a cultural touchpoint in the campaign that would be parodied and was used on merchandise by the Biden-Harris campaign.
  9. ^ Relman, Eliza; Choi, David (October 7, 2020). "A gigantic fly landed and rested on Pence's head during the vice-presidential debate". Business Insider. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020.
  10. ^ Orr, Gabby (October 8, 2020). "What caused Mike Pence's bloody eye". Politico. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020.
  11. ^ Biden, Joe [@JoeBiden] (8 October 2020). "Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly" (Tweet). Retrieved October 6, 2024 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ O'Kane, Caitlin (October 8, 2020). "A fly landed on Mike Pence's head during the debate and rested there for nearly two minutes". CBS News. Retrieved October 6, 2024. Within minutes, the Biden Campaign jumped in on the fly jokes, tweeting a photo of the Democratic presidential nominee with a fly swatter. "Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly," the tweet on Biden's page read.
  13. ^ Friedman, Vanessa (8 October 2020). "When a Fly Ruins Your Image". New York Times.
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