FACT CHECK: Did Donald Trump Plagiarize The ‘Bee Movie’ In His Inaugural Address?

Dominick Porcella | Contributor

An image shared on Facebook claims President Donald Trump plagiarized lines from the 2007 animated comedy “Bee Movie” during his 2017 inaugural address.

Verdict: False

Trump did not plagiarize the “Bee Movie” in his speech. The supposed quote does not actually appear in the movie.

Fact Check:

The claim that Trump allegedly plagiarized the “Bee Movie” during his 2017 inaugural address has circulated online since January 2017. This particular Facebook post juxtaposes photos of Trump and Barry B. Benson, the character voiced by actor Jerry Seinfeld in the “Bee Movie,” along with two purportedly similar quotes.

“We are one colony – and their pain is our pain,” the post allegedly quotes from the animated film. “Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one hive, and one glorious destiny.” (RELATED: Did Donald Trump Say, ‘If You Elect Joe Biden, There Will Be No Hand Sanitizer’?)

While Trump did say the quote the post attributes to him in his inaugural address, per the transcript from the White House, it was not plagiarized from the “Bee Movie.” Searching through online transcripts of the “Bee Movie” turned up no instances of the alleged quote from Barry B. Benson. Had Trump actually lifted the lines from the animated movie, it almost certainly would have been reported by major U.S. news outlets, yet none appear to have done so.

A similar claim about Trump plagiarizing words from “Avatar” also circulated after his inauguration in 2017, though Snopes found no record of the words attributed to “Avatar” in transcripts of the movie available online.

Dominick Porcella

Contributor

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