Entertainment

People Still Can't Pronounce Her Name

by Kadeen Griffiths

Lupita Nyong'o is the name on everybody's lips right now. Nyong'o was named People magazine's "Most Beautiful Person" and won an Oscar for her first feature film performance in 12 Years a Slave. She made a speech at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood luncheon that reduced us all to tears and, at this point, it really seems like Lupita Nyong'o can do no wrong moving forward in her career. But, since she can't fail, it appears that everyone around her is picking up the slack. On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel put together a video of news anchors trying to pronounce Nyong'o's name and the many, many, many ways they failed.

Right now, Nyong'o is everywhere — magazine covers, Internet gifs, interviews, public appearances. She may have been a relative unknown in America prior to 12 Years a Slave, but she's handling being thrown onto the Hollywood A-List with all the grace and humility that had People unanimously agreeing to name her "Most Beautiful". So why are news anchors still finding it so hard to pronounce her name?

Nyong'o once joked that once people didn't know her name and now they just couldn't pronounce it, but it's clear that she wasn't actually kidding. And this is all despite the fact that she uploaded a video to her Instragram back in January to teach everyone the proper pronunciation.

Kimmel must have watched the Instagram video because he shows the other news anchors up with his flawless pronunciation before playing the clips. They feature anchors who outright spelled Nyong'o's name wrong ("Nyong Named People's Most Beautiful" is one actual headline), anchors who add an extra letter into their pronunciation ("Noo-wong-go"), and one anchor who just gives up and refers to her only as "Lupita".

Watch the video below.