You would think American comedian Ellen DeGeneres would do her research before hosting someone with an Arabic name for the sole purpose of pronouncing it correctly. But, apparently, that's not the case.
This month, Muslim comedian Hasan Minhaj appeared on The Ellen Show and just a few seconds into the episode, DeGeneres mispronounces his name. Minhaj, who comes from a North Indian Muslim family, could not let it slide.
DeGeneres tells him "so, it's Has-san Min-aj" ... pronouncing both his first name and last name incorrectly. She pronounces Minhaj similar to Minaj (Nicki Minaj's name probably influenced this?) ... and Hasan as if there was a double "s" hiding in his name somewhere.
He responds with a simple "no" before going on to teach DeGeneres the right way to pronounce his name.
"I actually want to do this on national television," the comedian continues.
"The real way you pronounce it - and this is a big deal because my parents are here - it's Hasan Minhaj," he continues. After repeating it a couple of times, Minhaj then asks DeGeneres to try again. Her response?
"Hassin Menish"
The third time was quite a charm for DeGeneres - as she eventually pronounced his name correctly. Minhaj then adds that when he first started doing comedy, people advised him to change his name.
"And I'm like, I'm not going to change my name. If you can pronounce Ansel Elgort, you can pronounce Hasan Minhaj."
People absolutely loved Minhaj's stance on the importance of learning the pronunciation of other people's names.
"This is awesome. Thank you for not changing your name"
"Love, love, love that Hasan Minhaj insisted on people learning to say his name correctly"
"Taking ownership of your identity"
The relatability factor was STRONG
