Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 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

    Princess Mako To Lose Japan Royal Status By Marrying Commoner

    Princess Mako To Lose Japan Royal Status By Marrying Commoner
    Japan's 25-year-old Princess of Akishino, who is planning to get engaged to a 25-year-old law firm employee and graduate student, Kei Komuro, may be renouncing her in order to tie the knot.

    Princess Mako To Lose Japan Royal Status By Marrying Commoner

    Here's What You Should Avoid For Peaceful Flight

    Here's What You Should Avoid For Peaceful Flight
    They say it's not the destination but the journey that makes the travel worthwhile, but avid travellers will know that's not always the case when it comes to flying.

    Here's What You Should Avoid For Peaceful Flight

    Dangling Between Cliffs, Daredevil Woman Swallowed By 40-foot Wave

    Dangling Between Cliffs, Daredevil Woman Swallowed By 40-foot Wave
    A daredevil attempting to slackline across a 31-metre gap between two cliffs was almost washed out to sea when a freak 40-foot wave smashed into her – and the brush with death was caught on camera.

    Dangling Between Cliffs, Daredevil Woman Swallowed By 40-foot Wave

    Indian-American Student Pranay Varada Wins National Geographic Bee Contest

    Indian-American Student Pranay Varada Wins National Geographic Bee Contest
    Pranay Varada, the 14-year-old Indian-American student, has won the prestigious USD 50,000 National Geographic Bee competition

    Indian-American Student Pranay Varada Wins National Geographic Bee Contest

    Of Patiala Pegs And American Whiskey: Cocktails To Savour

    Of Patiala Pegs And American Whiskey: Cocktails To Savour
    Fresh ginger juice mixed with lime juice, orgeat syrup, pineapple juice and Tennessee whiskey, shaken well with lots of crushed ice and what you have in hand is a great "Ginger Baker" drink served in a martini glass.

    Of Patiala Pegs And American Whiskey: Cocktails To Savour

    MasterChef 2017: Pakistani-Kashmiri Recipes Win MasterChef For Saliha Ahmed

    MasterChef 2017: Pakistani-Kashmiri Recipes Win MasterChef For Saliha Ahmed
    Trolls targeted the doctor’s Pakistini heritage and fusion cooking style

    MasterChef 2017: Pakistani-Kashmiri Recipes Win MasterChef For Saliha Ahmed