Thomas Jefferson University has issued an apology after the names of some graduates from its nursing program were mispronounced at their commencement. TikTok videos of the ceremony have since gone viral for how badly the names were butchered by the announcer, who attempted to use the phonetic spelling to pronounce the names of the students.
As an example, graduate Stephanie's first name was pronounced "Eff-uni," and Jessica, "Jay-sic-u," as heard in the video. By the time the announcer pronounced “Thomas” as “Tom-mu-may," he corrected her and she was switched out with another announcer.
"The leadership and faculty of Thomas Jefferson University extend our sincerest apologies for the mispronunciations of the names of several of our graduating nursing students during our recent commencement ceremony," the university explained in the statement. "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. This unfortunate error does not reflect the immense respect we have for our graduates and the value we place on their hard-earned accomplishments."
In one video, the original announcer was heard apologizing before she was replaced. "And my apologies for the phonetic spelling or pronunciation of the names that was on the cards. I would have been better just reading from the book. My apologies, graduates," she said.
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"This feels like a key and Peele skit ," one person commented on the video.
"This can’t be real," another person said. "If so SNL needs to recreate this."
