Republican Faces Backlash on CNN Panel for Repeatedly Mispronouncing Kamala Harris’ Name

Political debates can quickly turn chaotic and that is exactly what happened during a live CNN panel when South Carolina's Republican Representative, Nancy Mace, ended up mispronouncing Vice President Kamala Harris' name. The situation in the news studio heated up when Mace refused to pronounce Harris' name properly even after she was corrected. Mace was invited on the panel with several other commentators including Democratic strategist, Keith Boykin, and Michael Dyson, a professor from Vanderbilt University.

As their conversation began, Mace did pronounce Harris' first name correctly before quickly getting it wrong. “You had it right, you almost got it,” Boykin remarked. “I will say Kamala’s name any way that I want to," Mace adamantly responded as seen during the panel's discussion. Soon, the panel erupted into chaos as everyone started talking over one another. “If I purposely mispronounced your name, that would probably not be appropriate," Boykin reasoned when he had a chance to speak.

The conversation cooled down for a while before it was brought up again. “This congresswoman is a wonderful human being,” Dyson added. “But when you disrespect Kamala Harris by saying you will call her whatever you want, I know you don’t intend it to be that way, that’s the history and legacy of White disregard for the humanity of Black people.” Mace interjected and accused Dyson of calling her "a racist." “I just said you weren’t a racist,” Dyson explained. “No, you don’t have to intend racism to accomplish it. Your disrespect of Kamala Harris is part and parcel of a tradition.”

The panel soon began shouting over one another when Mace mispronounced Harris' name for the second time. “It’s Kamala, you’re doing this on purpose, congresswoman,” Boykin asserted. “You’re a White woman disrespecting a Black woman,” Dyson added. At one point, the discussion recounted an instance when Donald Trump made comments about Harris and said how "she happened to turn Black." When Mace was asked if Trump should stop using this rhetoric for Harris, she didn't give a straightforward answer. “I didn’t hear him say it. I didn’t hear what he said about her race. I’m not going to weigh in on her race,” Mace responded.

“He said that she turned Black, he questioned whether she was really Black. I don’t think that’s that hard to say, ‘That’s out of bounds.’ Can you say that?” the panel moderator interjected. Sadly, Mace isn't the only Republican party member who has disregarded the correct pronunciation of Harris' name. According to The Independent, during a speech last month, Trump announced that he doesn't care that he regularly mispronounces Harris' name. 

Harris' husband, Dough Emhoff, released a statement, responding to the same. “I know you have so much trouble pronouncing her name,” Emhoff said during a fundraising event, per the news outlet. “But here’s the good news— After the election, you can just call her Madam President.” As per AP News, Back in 2016, Harris released an instructional video on her X handle where a bunch of kids were filmed pronouncing her name in their own ways. Maybe Mace can take some tips from the video.