Jimmy Kimmel exposes principal that plagiarized Ashton Kutcher speech
By Matt Moore
Jimmy Kimmel showed a clip of a high school principal who took lines from a very specific Ashton Kutcher speech.
Coming up with a speech is no easy task especially when it comes to a graduation speech. People often look to others for inspiration but it becomes a problem when it turns to outright plagiarism. Jimmy Kimmel found an example of that exact case that involved Ashton Kutcher.
Chances are that if you’ve heard a graduation or commencement speech, it featured a quote from somewhere else. That is perfectly acceptable, given that the original source is credited and there is enough original material in the speech. Again, the speaker just can’t plagiarize. Everyone from Winston Churchill to Albert Einstein to Dr. Seuss has been quoted. But how about Ashton Kutcher?
Ashton Kutcher certainly has an impressive career as an actor and as an investor. So sure, there is some inspiration that can be drawn from that and put in a speech. But Jimmy Kimmel found a high school principal in West Virginia that took things a little too far.
No, it wasn’t a speech that Ashton Kutcher gave at a major Hollywood event, or to a group of investors, or at an entrepreneurship conference. Instead it was Kutcher’s speech from the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. In fairness to Kutcher, it was still a pretty good speech that had a good message for the younger audience.
So while the content of the speech isn’t all that bad, the headline reads poorly for this West Virginia principal. If he had taken a speech from some noted military leader or politician, nobody would care too much. But when the headline is “Principal plagiarizes Ashton Kutcher’s Teen Choice Awards speech,” the embarrassment ramps up just a bit more.
Related Story. Watch kids read Donald Trump speeches on Jimmy Kimmel Live. light
We’re not sure if that principal has to start looking for his next job after being caught plagiarizing. Maybe Ashton Kutcher could reach out to him to help draft an apology? At least anyone else going to a graduation ceremony this summer can be on the look out for anything that sounds like it’s from an old award show.