Kamala Harris “SNL” sketch prompts fresh accusation of copying Donald Trump

Social media users criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for copying Donald Trump, this time for a Saturday Night Live (SNL) sketch that seemed to fully echo one the former president did in 2015.

Harris, the Democratic nominee, made a surprise appearance during SNL‘s cold open appearing as the reflection for actress Maya Rudolph, who has appeared as Harris in cold opens for the long-running comedy sketch show on-and-off for years.

The two-minute exchange included the pair rhyming words with Kamala and talking about her famous laugh and if she does “really laugh like that.”

The crowd erupted with applause and cheers after Harris appeared and after she shouted the famous “Live from New York” catchphrase, but some users on social media were quick to point out that the sketch fully mirrored one Trump did in 2015 during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Appearing opposite Jimmy Fallon doing his best Trump impression, the then-Republican candidate appeared as the talk show host’s reflection and proceeded to have a conversation with “himself” about his campaign, poking fun at the plans to make Mexico pay for a border wall and refusing to admit defeat.

When asked for comment on Sunday, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung directed Newsweek to his message on X, formerly Twitter, in which he wrote, “In addition to stealing policy ideas, @KamalaHarris has now resorted to stealing comedy skits.”

Internet personality Nick Sortor, who regularly appears on right-wing news outlets and podcasts, wrote on X that the skit “DIRECTLY” copied Trump’s from 2015 and asked if Harris can “do ANYTHING original at all?”

Kevork Almassian, a Syrian journalist and independent political commentator, berated Harris for skipping “the Al Smith Dinner because she was way too busy, but somehow found the time for an SNL cameo – where she even copied Trump’s 2015 skit. Priorities, right?”

User @JDunlap1974, who identifies himself as “Christian MAGA” in his X bio, reposted the entire Fallon and Trump sketch and wrote, “Kamala Harris’ whole SNL skit was directly copied Trump’s from 2015.”

Tara Reade, who accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault in 1993, also commented on the sketch, calling it “cringe worthy” and “so transparent and pathetic.”

Newsweek has reached out to NBC Universal and the Harris campaign by email on Sunday afternoon for comment.

However, Trump’s skit was not wholly original, either. Fallon had first done the idea of the mirror conversation when Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones stopped by SNL in 2001, only in that case Jagger was the one to enter and initiate the sketch and Fallon, who was a cast member on the show at the time, was the one in the mirror.

Fallon recycled the sketch for an appearance by Mitt Romney on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2015, again appearing on the other side of a mirror to have a pep talk. Both SNL and The Tonight Show (since 2014) are produced by Lorne Michaels.

SNL has also done two different “meeting myself” sketches with Hillary Clinton, first in 2008 opposite Amy Poehler when she made her first bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and again in 2015 when she appeared as a bartender to help Kate McKinnon as Clinton through her election cycle woes.

The 2008 skit even had Clinton ask her doppelganger, “Do I really laugh like that?”

As for policy theft, Trump first leveled the allegation against Harris in August when she talked about eliminating taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers, writing on Truth Social, “The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea—She has no ideas, she can only steal from me.”

In September, Trump supporters claimed Harris had “stolen” the idea to end degree requirements for federal jobs.

A Newsweek fact check in September determined that Harris had not “stolen” the jobs policy but likely builds on what Trump started as president. The Biden administration had announced plans to change requirements mandating college degree requirements, and the Harris campaign appears to take it a step further by eliminating four-year degrees “for half a million federal jobs.”

The idea to end federal taxes on tips first arose in 2012 when Representative Ron Paul of Texas ran for president seeking the Republican nomination. Paul wrote an op-ed for the Las Vegas Sun at the time, calling for help for the “sector of American workers who are often overlooked by both sides during the never-ending debate on taxes.”