Fans have praised Jenna Ortega for correctly pronouncing Rihanna’s name at the Golden Globes this week.
At the 80th annual awards ceremony on Tuesday, Ortega took the stage to present the award for “Best Song in a Motion Picture”. Before announcing “Naatu Naatu” from RRR as the winner, the 20-year-old introduced some of the other artists in the category who were nominated, including Rihanna for her song “Lift Me Up.” The song was featured in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“I’m gonna get to original song in a minute, we got artists like Taylor Swift and Rihanna competing for that award,” she said at the start of her speech, as shown in a video shared to TikTok.
Her remark then prompted applause from the audience, before she added: “I know, I’m very excited.”
While on the stage, Ortega pronounced the singer’s name like “Ri-An-ah,” even though it is sometimes pronounced as “Ri-Awhn-Ah.”
In the comments of the TikTok clip, fans went on to praise the Wednesday star for saying Rihanna’s name the correct way.
“She actually said it right,” one wrote, while another added: “Ree-an-nah is how i say it. Wasn’t til a few years ago I heard Rihanna say her name and I was [mindblown].”
Rihanna’s makeup brand, Fenty Beauty, applauded Ortega in the comments, writing: “Miss Wednesday understood the assignment.”
Back in 2012, Rihanna during an interview with Showbiz Tonight, Rihanna confirmed that the right way to say her name was “Ree-an-nah”.
During the ceremony on Tuesday, viewers continued to celebrate the two women on Twitter and expressed their disappointment over the “Umbrella” singer not winning the award.
“Jenna Ortega said Rihanna’s name correctly. Iconic,” one tweeted.
“Even Jenna Ortega was disappointed after just pronouncing Rihanna’s name CORRECTLY,” another wrote.
A third person claimed: “@jennaortega was the only one to pronounce @rihanna ‘s name correctly tonight. One day we will have a community meeting about how the queen prefers her name to be said.”
On Tuesday, Rihanna and her boyfriend, A$AP Rocky, also made headlines when they arrived at the ceremony late after opting to skip the red carpet. For the occasion, Rihanna chose a black off-the-shoulder velvet gown with voluminous statement sleeves while the rapper wore a classic tuxedo.
