Is it Really That Hard to Say Quvenzhané?
LatestWhat is with people at their complete inability to say this Oscar nominee’s name? And I’m not just talking about your average person on the street corner — I’m referring to members of the press who know they’ll be interviewing Oscar Nominee Quvenzhané Wallis. Instead of learning her name, one just straight up called her “Annie”. Of course, she promptly corrected the person, and it’s wonderful she did.
We’ve learned to say all sorts of famous white people’s “weird” names — Angelina Jolie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kim Basinger, and even Tawny Kitaen. TAWNY KITAEN.
It reminds me of when people refused to learn to say M. Night Shyamalan’s name correctly, and repeated the tired “M. Night Shamalamadingdong” joke incessantly. I get it; his name is different than “Smith”, and that’s HILARIOUS. Except it’s not, and maybe adults should know better than to act like middle school bullies? Either say his name correctly, or just don’t. When you do shit like that, it can play like you’re dumb, and possibly racist.
The Tumblr Sucks to be brown in space says it perfectly:
If you can say Courvoisier, you can say Quvenzhané
Every white person wants to be French
until a black person has a french-sounding name
then they speaka’ da English and can’t pronounce shit more complicated than “Becky”
It’s not hard. If you can get out of bed every morning and brush your teeth, you can learn to say her name. She’s even taught us to say it. I believe in us, we can do it! Learn it, live it, love it — because this beautiful, talented, smart young woman is gonna be around for a long, long time.