University apologizes after names horribly mispronounced at graduation ceremony. Here's its explanation.
May V. Lee Zubeth Brotoski. Syer Ovoon Jean June Breenun. Victoria Lee Zubithruss. These are the names announced at the Thomas Jefferson University graduation ceremony – except the graduates were really named Maeve Elizabeth Brostoski, Sarah Virginia Brennan and Victoria Elizabeth Bruce.
At the university's commencement ceremony for nursing students on Thursday, the person tasked with calling out graduates' names botched several of them – even ones as simple as Thomas.
Video taken by @colleenb415 and shared on TikTok racked up nearly 8 million views and 16,000 comments on the platform in less than a day. It was shared by others across social media platforms and went massively viral.
The people who recorded the original video couldn't help but laugh, astonished at the horrible mispronunciations. "Milena Zabeth Cop," the woman reads for Molly Elizabeth Camp.
"Tamome," she says, before the graduate says his name is Thomas. She corrects herself and says Thomas, but doesn't even attempt to read his last name, Canevari.
Thomas Jefferson University apologized for the mispronunciations of several of the graduates' names.
"This ceremony is a celebration of the significant achievements of our students, and each graduate deserves to have their name honored correctly on this pivotal day," the university said in a statement to CBS News.
Many people on social media speculated that the woman was reading the phonetic spellings of the names and didn't have the full names written out in their normal spellings. Others had a more cynical explanation – perhaps the woman's name was mispronounced her whole life, and this was her vendetta.
The university confirmed the former to be true.
"The mispronunciations occurred due to the way phonetic spellings were presented on the speaker's cards, which was noted when the presenter apologized during the ceremony," the university said in a statement. "This unfortunate error does not reflect the immense respect we have for our graduates and the value we place on their hard-earned accomplishments."
The school said they "are deeply sorry for any disappointment this may have caused."
Many of the graduates in the video appear to take the botched names in stride – some giggled as they approached to take their diplomas, while others just looked confused.
- In:
- graduation
Caitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," CBS News' streaming show that focuses on good news.
