Journalist Who Called Out Melania Trump for Plagiarism Lands Freelance Gig at DNC

The out-of-work journalist who first recognized and Tweeted about the uncanny similarities between Melania Trump’s recent speech at the Republican National Convention and Michelle Obama’s convention speech of eight years ago is now enjoying lucrative freelance work — including coverage of the Democratic National Convention this week for progressive news site Blue Nation Review.

Jarrett Hill, 31, was listening in on the RNC speech at a Los Angeles Starbucks — 15 months after being laid off from his previous job as a producer for ABC in Florida — when his ears perked up at some vaguely familiar words.

“It kind of came back, like familiar song lyrics,” he told the Toronto Star. The irony, he said, was that if he had been busy working news coverage of the convention, he never would have had the time to research the words and trace them back to the First Lady’s original speech.

Just last week, Hill told the Star he was still sussing through “a handful of emails [that] have expressed a strong interest in having a conversation” about potential job offers. Now, he’s enthusiastically reporting direct from the floor of the DNC.

“I definitely love what [Blue Nation Review is] doing,” he told Hollywood Reporter. “And they believed in me. We are here covering the DNC, talking to people about their convention experience, about America, why they are Democrats and what moves them about the party.”

When asked about reverting back to full-time employment, Hill simply said, “We’ll see.” More and more, the perks of freelancing outweigh conventional employment, especially in work atmospheres where 45% of workers are uncomfortable pointing out potentially unsafe behaviors to peers or supervisors.

For Hill, being present for Michelle Obama’s 2016 convention speech was worth the struggle. “Sitting here last night, listening to her speech, was an amazing moment,” he explained. “Michelle’s speech eight years ago is what got me this attention. Almost a week ago to the minute of tweeting that, I was sitting in this room, watching her come out and address the nation. It’s remarkable, and was a full circle moment for me. I can’t really describe it beyond that. I never imagined something like that would’ve happened for me.”

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