The Vice President-Elect Has A Benevolent Doppelganger, And He’s Fabulous (VIDEO)

A New York City man is making the most of his resemblance to the vice president-elect. Glen Pannell hangs out in Times Square wearing a coat and tie just like former Indiana governor Mike Pence wears, and the resemblance is uncanny — with two small exceptions. Pannell wears short shorts on his lower half, and instead of trying to take money from organizations that do good, he’s raising it.

Offering Hope

The vision of a Mike Pence lookalike in hot pants might be amusing, but Pannell’s mission is a serious one. He’s raising funds for organizations like Planned Parenthood, National Resources Defense Council, and The Trevor Project, an organization that provides:

“…Crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth.”

Pannell explains that The Trevor Project is a cause that hits especially close to home:

“[The Trevor Project] is really close to my heart because I was a questioning teen 35 years ago growing up on Long Island before I finally came out as a gay man in my early 20s… LGBTQ young people will need our full support over the next few years given Mike Pence’s record in office. So much of what he’s done in the last 16 years has divided and excluded ― not united.”

Mike Pence is well-known for his anti-LGBTQ policies, and Pannell, like many others across the US, is worried about his future under a Trump-Pence presidency. After the election, he decided to use his resemblance to the vice president-elect to effect some positive change:

“He was on my radar before the election not because he looked like me but because of his record… I have family in Indiana and knew about the ‘religious freedom’ bill. As a gay man, I stood up and took notice.

I was really dejected after the election and spent a month as a prisoner of my Facebook feed… But then I decided to do something to make a difference and put my likeness to Pence to good use.

I want to raise dollars, and I want to raise awareness… And maybe offer some hope too. Isn’t it nice to imagine a bizarre through-the-looking-glass alternate reality where there’s a Mike Pence who champions women’s health and LGBTQ rights and the environment? Well, that’s me!”

 

Hot-Pence Indeed

Pannell goes by the name Mike Hot-Pence, and he’s showing New Yorkers that the Roald Dahl quote is true:

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

Pence and Pannell may have similar facial features, but Pannell’s good intentions make him a thousand times more attractive than the vice president-elect. If only his alternate reality could be the one we live in.

Featured Image Via The New York Daily News.

April Fox is a freelance writer from North Carolina. In 2009, she appeared on an Irish radio show to discuss an article she penned on the benefits of punk rock on child development. She writes a little bit about everything, but her interests lean primarily toward music, politics, and parenting and child development. Her books, Object Permanence, Spine, and Chicken Soup for the Fuck You, are available on Amazon and in stores around her hometown of Asheville, NC.