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Pence's tryst with fly reminds viewers of insect that landed on Hillary Clinton at 2016 presidential debate

The fly landed on the former secretary of state's forehead during the second presidential debate of the 2016 election - landing right between her eyes

While a house fly may have stolen some of Mike Pence's thunder at the vice presidential debate on Wednesday night, Hillary Clinton had a similar tryst on the debate stage four years ago. A similar insect landed on the former secretary of state's forehead during the second presidential debate of the 2016 election -- landing right in the middle of her eyes, the New York Post reported. Clinton appeared rather unfazed by the guest and kept speaking into her microphone as she walked across the stage. Now, it appears the vice president gleaned inspiration from the former first lady Wednesday night, acting completely normal as a fly sat on his white-haired dome for about two minutes as he locked horns with Sen. Kamala Harris in the vice presidential debate in Utah. 

Another fly stole the show earlier this year as former Mayor Mike Bloomberg addressed the Democratic National Convention. The insect reportedly kept buzzing around before landing on his face multiple times. “I would vote for the fly on Mike Bloomberg’s face,” one Twitter user quipped at the time.

What's more? Even the commander-in-chief had a viral fly moment when he was running for the White House in 2016. A fly landed on top of Trump's signature golden hairdo during one of his rallies and nested there for a brief period before flying off. The then-real estate mogul, however, didn't seem to notice its presence. That said, arguably the most notorious fly incident was one with former President Barack Obama -- who killed the insect with a lightning-fast swat during a CNBC interview in 2009. But while the former POTUS elicited praise from a bunch of late-night comedians about his fast reflexes, he drew criticism from animal rights group PETA, which branded the incident an “insect execution.”

“Believe it or not, we've actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA's official response to the executive insect execution,” a blog on the group’s website stated at the time. “In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act.”

The group later sent Obama a device that traps a fly in a way it can be released alive. “We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals,” PETA spokesman Bruce Freidrich said at the time. Nonetheless, the latest fly-landing incident featuring Vice President Pence inspired several witty retorts online.

"Pre social media, you televise a debate, a fly lands on someone’s head, it makes it to paragraph 12 on p2. Post social media, not sure what happened in the debate, but the fly now has its own Netflix series and lives in a TikTok hype house with other celebrity insects," one quipped.

"I wonder if Mike Pence is relieved that "the fly that's attracted to shit" story replaced the "pink-eye means he has COVID" narrative," another added.

"The fly just was admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center. Our thoughts and prayers are for the fly," a third user chimed in.

"Has anyone nabbed an exclusive interview with the fly yet?" another wondered.