Celebs react to that fly, unofficial star of the vice-presidential debate

If you tuned into the vice-presidential debate on October 7, odds are you noticed that it wasn’t a rousing performance by candidates Kamala Harris or Mike Pence that unified Twitter, nor was it Harris’ facial reactions to Pence’s constant pivots (although they came close). Nope, the real star of the show was a random fly that landed on Pence’s head, and stayed there for an uncomfortably long time.Despite plexiglass and other safety measures that were installed for the debate after the White House revealed it is dealing with a serious coronavirus outbreak, a regular old housefly made its way to the stage. There, it was impossible not to notice the fly as it sat on Pence’s snow-white hair, distracting everyone from the talk of taxes, supreme court nominations, and all of that other good stuff that came up during the hour-long conversation. While some viewers were reminded of the time a housefly notably landed on Hillary Clinton’s face during the second presidential debate back in 2016, others—including many, many celebrities, had other (hilarious) takes on the unexpected star.

Congratulations to the Fly for signing with WME! pic.twitter.com/nJ95GX4Q7m

— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) October 8, 2020

Pence apologizing to Mother right now for getting to 3rd base with the fly

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 8, 2020

The fly knows.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 8, 2020

Give that fly a SAG Award.

— dan levy (@danjlevy) October 8, 2020

Well, I wish we had thought of this on @VeepHBO - who’s controlling the fly? pic.twitter.com/x6NGEJs0Gy

— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) October 8, 2020

THE FLY CLOCK KEEPS ON TICKING!!! #VPDebate pic.twitter.com/PbEm71snTs

— Ben Schwartz (@rejectedjokes) October 8, 2020

Susan captured the fly and took it home. They are friends now. ❤️

— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 8, 2020

The fly is free and now getting a COVID test

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) October 8, 2020

so... i'm gonna be a fly for halloween

— Liza Koshy (@lizakoshy) October 8, 2020

EWWWWWWWWW that fly has Mike Pence on his stomach. #VPDebate

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) October 8, 2020

That fly is an American hero.

— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) October 8, 2020

Even Joe Biden put his relatable boots on and got in on the action, posting a photo of himself with a fly swatter that was liked more than 700,000 times at time of press. Then, he used the opportunity to turn it into another campaign strategy, selling official Biden/Harris fly swatters for ten bucks online with the tagline, “Truth over flies.” Proceeds go towards the campaign, and the swatters are already sold out.

Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly. https://t.co/CqHAId0j8t pic.twitter.com/NbkPl0a8HV

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 8, 2020

Swats away flies and lies. Get yours today: https://t.co/ehsECKfDPO pic.twitter.com/oVLHHmq85c

— Team Joe (Text JOE to 30330) (@TeamJoe) October 8, 2020

It sounds like SNL will have a grand old time recreating the fly moment for its upcoming show on Saturday, at any rate. Fans might want to start feeling sorry for Beck Bennett now, since he has the tough task of recreating Pence’s performance on the show. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that writer’s room this week.Meanwhile, Harris hasn’t responded to the viral moment, using her Twitter platform following the debate to make counterpoints and interact with voters instead. For his part, Pence hasn’t been on Twitter since October 5, when he retweeted Donald Trump’s announcement that he was leaving Walter Reed Medical Center following a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.That’s it for the vice-presidential debates in 2020. Meanwhile, the second presidential debate (a town hall style chat with a few new rules) was scheduled for Thursday, October 15 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. C-SPAN’s Steve Scully was hired to moderate. However, on October 8 the Commission on Presidential Debates revealed they were moving the debate online in order to “protect the health and safety of all involved” during the pandemic. The Commander-in-Chief swiftly reacted to the news by telling Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that, “I’m not going to waste my time doing a virtual debate.”In other words, the presidential drama continues.[video_embed id='2051344']Before you go: Vice Presidential debate more civil, but key questions remained unanswered[/video_embed]