Jenna Ortega Praised for Pronouncing Rihanna’s Name Correctly
Written by on January 12, 2023
Jenna Ortega has made a lot of fans for the way she pronounced Rihanna‘s name during the 80th Annual Golden Globes Awards last night, hosted at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
The actress, 20, took the stage to present the award for Best Original Song, which Rihanna, 34, was nominated for after the release of “Lift Me Up,” featured on the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.
Consequence shared a TikTok video of her speech–which you can view here–sparking a ton of praise for the actress, “Shout out to Jenna Ortega for the correct pronunciation of Rihanna. #jennaortega #rihanna,” the caption read.
As the Wednesday actress presented the award, she stated, “I’m gonna get to original song in a minute; we got artists like Taylor Swift and Rihanna competing for that award.”
Rich Polk/NBC/Getty Images
Some people pronounce the “Umbrella” singer’s name as Ri-Awhn-A rather than Ri-An-ah, which is how Ortega pronounced her name–and is the correct way to say it.
Rihanna set the record straight on the correct way to pronounce her name in an interview with Showbiz Tonight back in 2012.
Many fans took to the comments to applaud her pronunciation, with one fan who was in awe writing, “She actually said it right.”
“My middle name is Rhiannon. I hate when people say Ree-awhn-nan. Love Jenna pronouncing Rihanna correctly!” another cheered.
“When I pronounce it this way, folks look at me weird. Like y’all. If someone pronounced their name one way, do it, too,” a third fan added.
Some fans even said they have always pronounced the singer’s name correctly, especially if they live in the UK or Ireland, because of their accents.
“That’s how we say it in the uk,” one user said, with another adding, “that’s how everyone in ireland says it cause our accent lol i didn’t realise there was any other pronunciation.”
As expected, at least one fan took the opportunity to make a joke, “it’s actually robyn,” a reference to the singer’s legal name–Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
Unfortunately for Rihanna, she didn’t leave with the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, as RRR‘s “Naatu Naatu” took the award.
