Outraged over the mispronunciation of Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ name by a Republican Senator from Georgia, her supporters launched an online campaign with the hashtags ‘MyNameIs’ and ‘IstandwithKamala’.
During an election rally of US President Donald Trump on Saturday in Macon City in Georgia, a battleground state, Senator David Perdue mispronounced 55-year-old Harris’ name.
“KAH’-mah-lah? Kah-MAH’-lah? Kamala-mala-mala? I don’t know. Whatever,” he told thousands of his supporters.
The mispronunciation outraged a large number of Harris’ supporters and her spokesperson Sabrina Singh said, “I’ll keep it simple: If you can pronounce ‘former’ Senator David Perdue, you can pronounce ‘future’ Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Condemning Perdue, Amit Jani — the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Outreach Coordinator of the Biden campaign — launched the ‘My name is’ campaign to “push back against the bigotry”.
BuzzFeed on Saturday reported that Perdue, who is seeking his reelection from Georgia, is facing backlash for mockingly mispronouncing Harris’ name.