Actor Kerry Washington introduced Vice President Kamala Harris’ two great-nieces on stage Thursday on the Democratic Nationwide Conference to highschool everybody on methods to pronounce their great-aunt’s first identify ― one thing Republicans often botch regardless of her lengthy profession within the public eye.
“It’s come to my attention that there are some folks who struggle ― or pretend to struggle ― with the proper pronunciation of our future president’s name,” Washington mentioned. “So hear me out: Confusion is understandable; disrespect is not. So tonight we are going to help everyone get it right.”
Washington then referred to as Amara and Leela Ajagu, the daughters of Harris’ niece Meena Harris, to the stage to show the group methods to say “Kamala,” a Sanskrit phrase which means lotus.
“First you say ‘comma,’ like a comma in a sentence,” Amara defined.
“Then you say ‘la,’ like, “la, la, la, la,” Leela sang.
They then had the DNC crowd repeat after them.
SAUL LOEB/AFP by way of Getty Photos
The willful ignorance about methods to pronounce Harris’ identify was on full show on the Republican Nationwide Conference final month, the place about half the audio system who talked about her mispronounced it as both “Kuh-MA-luh,” “Camel-uh” or “Camilla.” This was regardless of Harris being the vice chairman for greater than three years and a U.S. senator for a number of years earlier than that.
Trump is among the most constant offenders, and in a extremely attribute remark final month, he claimed he was really announcing it accurately.
“Some people think I mispronounce it on purpose, but actually I’ve heard it said about seven different ways,” he mentioned at a Florida occasion. “There are a lot of ways.”
Washington additionally introduced her “Scandal” co-star Tony Goldwyn on stage to assist her movie a video with the group.
“You are the messengers. You are the fixers. Dare I say it, you are the Olivia Popes,” Washington mentioned, referencing her “Scandal” character, a political public relations skilled.
