In a commencement ceremony that was supposed to be a celebration of achievement, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia found itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. The university has issued an apology after a series of egregious mispronunciations of graduates' names during a nursing program graduation ceremony went viral on social media.
The ceremony, which took place on May 9, was marred by a series of mispronunciations so severe that they rendered some names unrecognizable. The blunders were captured on video and quickly spread across social media platforms, racking up millions of views and thousands of comments.
In one instance, graduate Sarah Virginia Brennan was introduced as "Sayer Oo-voon Geen-goo Bree-none," while Maeve Elizabeth was called "May-vee Lee Zu-beth." Even the simple name of Thomas was botched as "Tom-mu-may" before the graduate corrected the speaker.
The university, in a statement to CBS News, expressed its regret over the incident. "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. "We are deeply sorry for any disappointment this may have caused."
The university attributed the mispronunciations to the phonetic spellings on the speaker's cards. "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 explained. "This unfortunate error does not reflect the immense respect we have for our graduates and the value we place on their hard-earned accomplishments."
Despite the embarrassing blunders, many of the graduates seemed to take the incident in stride. Some even giggled as they approached to take their diplomas, while others appeared merely confused. The speaker eventually apologized to the crowd, admitting that she would have been better off reading from the book.
The incident has sparked a flurry of reactions on social media, with one commenter suggesting that "SNL needs to re-create this." Another noted, "The Grads will never forget this moment."
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