12:31am September 13, 2014

“My name is not Annie. It’s Quvenzhané.”

— Quvenzhané Wallis (then age 9) correcting an AP Reporter who said she was “just going to call her Annie” instead of learning how to pronounce her name. Never forget. (via thechanelmuse)

Right, I read this about two days ago and I have not been able to get it out of my head. I’m going to try to put into words just why it burns my biscuits so bad.

For starters, that’s just lazy fuckin journalism. Do I claim to know how to pronounce that little angel’s name just by reading it? No. Would I feel comfortable trying to say it to her without being sure of how to say it? No. SO I WOULD FUCKING GOOGLE IT BEFORE MY FUCKING INTERVIEW. IT TOOK ME ALL OF FIVE SECONDS TO GOOGLE HOW TO PRONOUNCE QUVENZHANÉ, AND NOW I KNOW.

Secondly, this little girl is an actress, a professional recognised worldwide, having featured in an oscar nominated film. This shitty entertainment interviewer did not consider it a priority to learn the name of the world famous person that she was interviewing. Are you fucking kidding me? Would she dare go up to a white Hollywood a-lister and refuse to call them by their name?

Lastly, and most importantly, this young girl has gained attention worldwide for her beautiful acting and, more recently, for fighting against race roles and becoming the first black Annie. All of that at nine years old. And yet, what Quvenzhané learnt from just one ignorant comment, is that her beautiful name from her beautiful family, is not important enough to be recognised by some two-bit nobody, simply because it is a ‘black’ name. And no amount of talent or ability can erase that.

I sincerely hope that fucking lazy-ass interviewer got fired. Who the hell did she think she is.

(via heichoudrivingtheimpala)

Notes: