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The fly on Mike Pence's hair really stole the show at Wednesday's vice presidential debate.
ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images

Yes, That Really Was A Fly On Mike Pence's Hair

by Morgan Brinlee

There is nothing wrong with your television, and no, your laptop screen doesn't need cleaning. Because, yes, that really was a fly on the vice president's head during Wednesday's debate. In fact, according to some, the fly on Mike Pence's hair was one of the night's stand out performers.

Towards the end of Wednesday's vice presidential debate, a black fly flew in and landed on Pence's snow white hair and then proceeded to stay there — for a while. While Pence appeared oblivious to the fly's presence — and neither Democratic vice president nominee Kamala Harris or moderator Susan Page tipped him off to it — it certainly wasn't missed by anyone watching at home.

"My parents called up and were shouting at me to turn the debates back on!" Marvel writer Dan Slott tweeted. "Why? Because there was a fly walking around on Pence's hair."

Was the fly stuck in his hair gel? Had it died? What had attracted it to the vice president in the first place? Where did it come from? What did it mean? Naturally, Twitter users had a bunch of questions about the fly — and, of course, a bunch of jokes.

"Pretty fly for a white guy," one user tweeted, referencing a song by The Offspring.

"That fly smelled bullsh*t so it landed right on Pence's head," Jackée Harry tweeted.

"As soon as Pence started denying the existence of systemic racism, the fly got him," writer and anti-racist educator Ibram X. Kendi tweeted.

"That fly is Mike Pence’s only black friend," comedian Subhah Agarwal tweeted.

"How lame is Mike Pence?" another Twitter user asked. "Even the fly got bored and left."

"The Trump presidency is about to be taken down by a teenage girl, or a fly," comedian and writer Lane Moore tweeted. "Choose your fighter."

"I hope SNL gets Jeff Goldblum to play the fly on Pence's head," one Twitter user joked.

"Somebody get that damn fly a COVID test stat," another user tweeted.

The fly was such a stand out that even those who didn't catch the debate while it aired live heard about the it.

"I didn't watch the debate, but I'm gathering that a fly won," author Tessa Dare noted.

Even Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden couldn't help but joke about the fly. "Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly," he tweeted alongside a photograph of him holding a fly swatter. Within the hour, Biden's campaign had an official Biden-Harris 2020 "Truth Over Flies Fly Swatter" listed for sale on its site.

However you look at, the fly that found a moment of respite in Pence's hair offered voters a brief moment of levity in a race that has generally been quite contentious. And for that, we salute you, fly.