Social media reacts to Nancy Mace’s ‘awkward’ attempt to mispronounce ‘Horrible’

People on social media are calling out the “embarrassing” behavior of Rep. Nancy Mace (RS.C.), who repeatedly tried to mispronounce Vice President Kamala Harris’ name during an appearance on CNN.

On Thursday’s “Newsnight With Abby Phillip,” Mace criticized Harris on several policy issues, accusing the Democratic presidential candidate of not knowing “what a woman is.”

At one point in the debate, guest panelist Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of African American studies at Vanderbilt University, was evaluating Democratic campaign strategy when Mace interjected to attack Harris’ record in the U.S. Senate and as vice president.

The Republican initially pronounced “Kamala” correctly before appearing to quickly change course and say his name with an emphasis on the second syllable instead of the first.

Harris, who has made it clear several times how she says her name, has previously suggested it be pronounced “comma-la.” The traditional pronunciation of the Indian name is closer to “com’la”.

When other CNN panelists called out the mispronunciation, Mace responded, “I say Kamala’s name any way I want.”

Dyson and fellow guest panelist Keith Boykin — a former White House aide during Bill Clinton’s presidency — slammed Mace for being inappropriate and disrespectful.

Dyson also charged that, although it was not his intention, Mace’s mispronunciation of Harris’ name exemplified “the history and legacy of white disregard for black humanity”.

“Oh, now you’re calling me a racist. That’s BS. That’s complete BS,” Mace replied.

“I just said you weren’t racist,” Dyson replied before they engaged in a back and forth.

Mace had mispronounced Harris’ name at several points earlier in the segment, and his fellow panelists tried to correct him on several occasions.

Guest panelist Marc Lotter, who served as communications director for Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, apologized for mispronouncing the vice president’s name elsewhere on the show.

“I’ve even researched how to say it and messed it up,” he said. “I see, sorry.”

Meanwhile, Trump, who routinely mispronounces the vice president’s first name, has also doubled down.

The Republican presidential candidate told a conservative Christian group in Florida last month that he didn’t care if she mispronounced his name.

“[It] it doesn’t matter what I say,” she said at the time, while suggesting she doesn’t misspell her name on purpose.

“I couldn’t care less if I mispronounce it or not. I couldn’t care less,” he continued.

The folks at X, formerly Twitter, were taken aback by Mace’s apparent insistence on misspelling Harris’ name on CNN.

“Nancy Mace is embarrassing herself because she refuses to condemn Trump’s racism and she refuses to pronounce ‘Horrible’ correctly,” one X-user wrote.

Mace responded to some of the backlash, writing to X on Friday that “the most agitated, sexist, left-wing radicals were moved by how I pronounce Kamala’s name last night.”

Check out some of the reactions to Mace’s CNN appearance below:

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