"The disgraced former New York governor, who is running as an independent candidate against Mamdani in the mayoral election next month, has repeatedly mispronounced Mamdani, even causing Zohran to spell it out for him during a debate in June. And Cuomo isn't alone: Kathy Hochul, the current governor of New York, has also butchered Mamdani's name, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has called the politician Zimdami."
"I've mispronounced plenty of people's names; struggling with an unfamiliar word is perfectly understandable. During a recent chat with Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan, Mamdani said as much himself, noting he isn't bothered if someone initially gets his name wrong. What's inexcusable, however, is the repeated intentional mispronunciation, Mamdani stressed. More importantly, he said, his experience is far from unique: This is the experience of so many There are so many of us who are seen as if we are forever others."
Zohran Mamdani has faced repeated public mispronunciations of his surname by figures including Andrew Cuomo, Kathy Hochul, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Mamdani accepts initial honest mistakes but condemns repeated intentional mispronunciations as inexcusable. Many people from marginalized backgrounds experience name mispronunciation as a form of othering, reinforcing perceptions of being perpetual outsiders. Comparable examples include persistent mispronunciations of Kamala Harris by figures like David Perdue and Donald Trump, sometimes dismissed as inconsequential. Repeated mispronunciation by public figures functions as a political gesture that signals disrespect and contributes to exclusion.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]