Social Media Reacts To Nancy Mace's 'Embarrassing' Effort To Mispronounce 'Kamala'

People on social media are calling out “embarrassing” behavior by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who went out of her way to repeatedly mispronounce Vice President Kamala Harris’ name during an appearance on CNN.

On Thursday’s broadcast of “NewsNight With Abby Phillip,” Mace criticized Harris over several policy issues, and she accused the Democratic presidential nominee of not knowing “what a woman is.”

At one point in the discussion, fellow guest panelist Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of African American studies at Vanderbilt University, was evaluating the Democrat’s 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 she appeared to quickly change course and say her name with an emphasis on the second syllable instead of the first.

Harris, who has made clear numerous times how she says her name, has previously suggested remembering its pronunciation as “comma-la.” A traditional pronunciation of the Indian name is closer to “com’la.”

When other CNN panelists called out the mispronunciation, Mace snapped back with “I will say Kamala’s name any way that I want to.”

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

Dyson also charged that, even if it wasn’t her intent, Mace’s mispronunciation of Harris’ name was an example of “the history and legacy of white disregard for the humanity of Black people.”

“Oh, so now you’re calling me racist. That is BS. That is complete BS,” Mace responded.

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

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