Graduates from Thomas Jefferson University’s commencement ceremony, held on May 9, experienced an unusual scene when the emcee responsible for calling them up to receive their diplomas utterly butchered their names.
The mystery emcee’s attempt to pronounce graduates’ names turned into an unexpected comedy routine.
As students marched proudly across the stage to receive their hard-earned diplomas, the unnamed emcee faced an epic linguistic challenge.
Each graduate, apparently anticipating potential pitfalls, handed over a slip of paper with their name clearly printed on it. Yet, what followed was a cascade of creative mispronunciations that could rival any tongue-twister contest.
Among the standout misreads was “Carolina Arena,” whose last name came out “Urena,” and “Meghan Louise Aubrey” was pronounced “Mejeanlou Eyabri.”
Student “Gabrielle Julianne Awad” couldn’t hold back her laughter as she approached the podium when her name was pronounced “Gabrielle Julianwood.”
The emcee absolutely butchered the names of the graduating students.
What just happened?
pic.twitter.com/K8V8KFnKCp
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) May 10, 2024
It got worse: pic.twitter.com/wAZ6uG5MH5
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) May 10, 2024
The emcee even pronounced the name “Jessica” as “Jesikoo.”
One graduate, “Tristan Sweigert Boyer” looked pleasantly surprised when the emcee pronounced his name more ore less correctly.
However, the mispronunciations persisted soon after, with “Sarah Virginia Brennan” being pronounced, “Sire Ovoon Jingju Breenun.”
The mispronunciations kept happening over and over. Some of the pronunciations were utterly inexplicable.
Social media buzzed with clips and quips from the ceremony.
Despite the phonetic fumbles, the day was saved by the good spirits of the graduates and audience members, who embraced the hilarity of the moment.
Social media was ablaze with comments regarding the mispronunciations.
my fyp is FILLED with so many videos of that thomas jefferson university graduation
like how do you mess up that bad
— melissa ❀ (@ariscupcakexx) May 10, 2024
has anyone seen the thomas jefferson university graduation videos … someone needs to tell me how on earth that happened because there’s no way she just had names in front of her, someone must have written it out phonetically but Wrong
— kira (@cheerydodie) May 10, 2024
One person on social media platform X even commented that the emcee’s pronunciation mishaps were “the funniest thing” they’d seen in a while.
that video of the thomas jefferson university graduation is the funniest thing ive seen in a while
— aespa’s 5th member
(@_j4da) May 10, 2024
if you guys are bored, i highly suggest going on tiktok and searching “thomas jefferson university graduation”.
— jaz
(@outtakeyjukebox) May 10, 2024
As for the mysterious emcee, her identity remains as enigmatic as her pronunciation skills.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
