Fans of filmmaker Issa Rae had no problem correcting a moderator who mispronounced the successful screenwriter’s name in front of a live audience.
The now-viral moment occurred on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, during a sit-down interview at the CultureCon conference in New York City.
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The “Insecure” creator was introduced by interviewer Glenda McNeal, who is an accomplished executive at American Express.
However, McNeal incorrectly pronounced Rae’s first name, calling her “Ih-suh.” While the 38-year-old remained cool, calm, and collected at the mistake, a swarm of die-hard Rae fans did not.
Right after the name butchering, an array of individuals can be heard correcting the speaker, yelling out, “It’s Issa!” from the audience. The Wharton School graduate and the “Awkward Black Girl” writer seemed rather stunned by the audience’s response, with both women turning their heads to the crowd and breaking out in laughter.
“Issa! Issa Rae,” McNeal said. “Sorry, Issa!”
She then thanked those who corrected her and insisted for the crowd to “calm down.” “I’m over here saying ‘Calm down, it’s okay,’ I’m part of the community honey; it’s okay,” McNeal added.
Someone else from the crowd can then be heard saying, “And you didn’t say her name right!”
As the first Black woman to sit on American Express’ executive committee, McNeal told the audience, “It’s okay to be vulnerable and don’t get it right all the time. That is my life and you should embrace it! Embrace it, girl; embrace it.”
Loud cheers filled the room before McNeal re-introduced Rae with the correct pronunciation. Still, social media users had more to say, and some raised questions about McNeal claiming to be “part of the community,” after a viral clip of their interaction was shared on X.
“What community is she a part of and what does that have to do with pronouncing names correctly?”
“Well could’a fooled me because that ‘I’m part of the community’ line threw me off. If you trynna say you Black just say that.”
“So this is Glenda McNeal. She’s Black. She’s not a journalist, she’s a senior exec at AMEX. And she should have apologized and corrected.”
One user who claimed to have sat in the “front row” at the convention penned, “She did this multiple times. This could have been a deserving Black journalist interviewing Issa. Instead they chose an exec with no clue who this legendary queen is or who the audience was. She deserved the roast imo.”
In 2016, Rae spoke about her dislike for people mispronouncing her name while talking to the Chicago Tribune. “‘Eye-suh’ I can deal with, but ‘Ih-suh’ sounds incomplete,” she explained. “Like it should be Mel-issa. Like you think my name is incomplete.”
Ironically, McNeal pronounced Rae’s name the way she hates it “the most.” Neither Rae nor McNeal have come out to address the mishap that took place two days ago.
