Close X
Saturday, November 23, 2024
ADVT 
Interesting

Watch: With 'Covfefe', CNN Anchor 'Mocks' Indian-American Spelling Bee Champ Ananya Vinay

Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 Jun, 2017 11:55 AM

    A CNN anchor is being lashed out by netizens for allegedly making a “racist” remark against Indian-American national spelling champion Ananya Vinay, assuming that the 12-year-old is “used to using” Sanskrit due to her heritage.

     

    California resident Vinay was being interviewed by CNN anchors Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo following her win last week at the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee.

     

    The sixth-grader had correctly spelled the word ‘marocain’ and became the 13th consecutive winner from the Indian-American community at the annual spelling bee championship.

     

    Towards the end of the interview, Camerota asked Vinay to spell ‘covfefe’, the word recently used by President Donald Trump in one of his tweets that took the social media by storm with people guessing what the US leader could have meant by that word.

     

    Like a true spelling bee participant, Vinay asked the definition of ‘covfefe’ and its language of origin, to which the anchors responded “gibberish”.

     
     

    Vinay sincerely tried to guess the spelling of the word, asked if there were any alternative pronunciation for it. She finally spelled it ‘cofefe’.

     

    Camerota then told Vinay the correct spelling was ‘covfefe’ and added, “It’s a nonsense word. So, we’re not sure that its root is actually in Sanskrit, which is what you’re probably, uh, used to using, so, I don’t know. Anyway.”

     

    Criticism of Camerota’s comment has since been circulating on social media.

     

    Cuomo immediately congratulated Vinay for doing a great job, saying, “You know what I love about this. Not only did you make yourself proud and your family, but do you know that there are kids all over the country, probably the world, who are going to look at you and say, “I want to put in that work. I want to be a champion. I want to spell like her.”

     

    However, netizens were quick to criticise Camerota for assuming that Vinay would know Sanskrit, some calling her comment racist and others expressing disbelief that she would make such an assumption just because Vinay is of Indian origin.

     

    Susan Benesch wrote on Twitter, “CNN guesses the US national spelling bee winner is ‘used to using’ Sanskrit. If she were Jewish would u say ‘your real language is Hebrew’.”

     

    Another user Jeremy McLellan, a standup comedian, wrote on Twitter “12-year-old Ananya Vinay won the National Spelling Bee so naturally CNN had her on to spell ‘covfefe’ and say some racist stuff to her.”

     

     

    Asha Dahya, creator/editor-in-chief of female empowerment blog ‘GirlTalkHQ’, wrote on Twitter, “CNN anchor assumes spelling bee champ, who happens to be of Indian descent, uses Sanskrit to find the origin of a word.”

     

    A CNN spokeswoman, in a report in the Washington Post, said Camoreta’s comment had nothing to do with the girl’s heritage, and that the interview was not the first time the anchor has joked about Sanskrit being the origin of ‘covfefe’.

     

    “Alisyn made the same joking reference to the root of ‘covfefe’ in an earlier panel discussion that was aired on Wednesday,” the CNN spokeswoman said.

     

    “If she’s guilty of anything it is recycling a joke. To assign a bias to what was a fun and innocent segment celebrating Ananya Vinay’s incredible accomplishment is frankly extremely cynical,” she said in a statement.

    MORE Interesting ARTICLES

    World's First Air-Cleansing Poem To Be Auctioned Off In United Kingdom

    World's First Air-Cleansing Poem To Be Auctioned Off In United Kingdom
    Printed on a specially-treated material developed by Sheffield scientists, the poem, 'In Praise of Air', is capable of purifying its surroundings through catalytic oxidation.

    World's First Air-Cleansing Poem To Be Auctioned Off In United Kingdom

    Bombay Sapphire Gin Recalled Nationwide Over Wrong Alcohol Content

    Bombay Sapphire Gin Recalled Nationwide Over Wrong Alcohol Content
    TORONTO — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is issuing a nationwide recall warning for 1.14-litre bottles of Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin.

    Bombay Sapphire Gin Recalled Nationwide Over Wrong Alcohol Content

    Ontario Man Convicted Of Sexually Assaulting Daughter For Close To A Decade

    Ontario Man Convicted Of Sexually Assaulting Daughter For Close To A Decade
      Man Who Argued In An Ontario Court That He Was Simply Being A "Touchy Feely" Father When He Regularly Pinned His Daughter Under Him — Face Down — And Ground His Genitals On Her Over Roughly A Decade Has Been Convicted Of Sexual Assault

    Ontario Man Convicted Of Sexually Assaulting Daughter For Close To A Decade

    Lingerie Vending Machine To Arrive In India Soon

    Lingerie vending machines at select prime locations, starting with a mall here, will be launched soon.

    Lingerie Vending Machine To Arrive In India Soon

    Father Stops Crying Baby In Seconds With A Single Sound 'OM'

    Father Stops Crying Baby In Seconds With A Single Sound 'OM'
    In his short clip, San Diego dad Daniel Eisenman does something so simple yet incredible that his video has collected over 34 million views since being shared on Facebook on April 22.

    Father Stops Crying Baby In Seconds With A Single Sound 'OM'

    In A Rare Case, Indian Court Grants Divorce After Hearing Wife's Plea On Video Chat

    In A Rare Case, Indian Court Grants Divorce After Hearing Wife's Plea On Video Chat
    The Husband Came Down To Pune From Singapore Whereas The Wife Appeared Via Video-conferencing.

    In A Rare Case, Indian Court Grants Divorce After Hearing Wife's Plea On Video Chat