Idina Menzel she's experienced more than people mispronouncing her name – but she draws the line when it comes to Kamala Harris.
With Election Day less than a month away, the Broadway alum released a PSA video via Instagram on Sunday showing the exact way to say the vice president's nickname. “You have to do a proper Kamala Harris accent,” she says in the clip, standing outside while addressing the camera. “It gets really exhausting. It's Kamala, like a comma. “Comma-la.”
“I tend to be an expert at pronouncing names because mine is always wrong, you know,” Menzel continued, before referring to one of the most viral moments of her career: when John Travolta bloodied her name while introducing her her performance at the 2014 Oscars.
“And not just as 'Adele Dazeem,'” Frozen says the star. “People call me Indiana, 'Eye-dina'… I was just at an event in Oklahoma and they called me 'Ay-deena Menzul.'
Although Menzel says people mispronounce her name all the time, Travolta's flub is definitely the most memorable. Although she would later say it was a last-second change at the teleprompter's fault, she accidentally set up her rendition of “Let It Go,” saying, “Please welcome the wickedly talented, one and only Adele Dazeem.”
At the time, Menzel took it in stride and, at the next year's ceremony, he took it Grease The actor returned by referring to him as “Glom Gazingo” as the two were introduced on stage. Earlier this year, the Rent The artist celebrated 10 years of the viral moment with a TikTok joke, telling the camera: “Hey, Adele Dazeem! It's Idina Menzel… I just wanted to say happy birthday. Sending you so much love and positive energy.”
When it comes to Harris, however, Menzel isn't kidding. At the end of her PSA, the star adds, “I think the vice president and future president should pronounce her name correctly.”
Watch Menzel's tutorial on how to say Kamala Harris' name below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/idina-menzel-kamala-harris-name-pronunciation-psa-1235800441/