By: Cole Buergi, VP of Business Development, Leonard & Finco Public Relations
What’s in a name? Ask actor John Travolta and I’m sure he’ll
tell. Ever since mispronouncing Idina Menzel’s name, badly I might add, while
introducing her at during the Oscar’s telecast, the social media world has gone
wild. It sounded more like he said Adele Dazeem or something like that.
His flub has created a firestorm of people weighing in on the topic, many of whom are not being to kind or forgiving to Travolta.
Granted, I can fully understand that Travolta only had a few lines to read and that he should have rehearsed the proper way to say Menzel’s name prior the actual introduction, but I think the world needs to cut him a little slack.
Truly the only person that has a right to be upset is Menzel and she brushed it off graciously while accepting an apology from Travolta after the show.
If you analyze the situation deeper and, from a PR perspective, this miscue did more to elevate Menzel’s presence at the Oscars than did the song she sang. In addition, it’s most certainly giving her residual coverage that she would not have received otherwise and that never hurts a career in that industry.
Now don’t go slaughtering people’s names on purpose to make them even more popular. That only works in Hollywood. Trust me, if I grew more popular based on my last name being mispronounced, I’d be more famous than Brad Pitt, George Clooney or Travolta combined.
For now, Travolta has apologized and Menzel has accepted. Let’s move on to something more important such as who was the best dressed.
What are your thoughts? Do you think it’s fair for people to take to social media to ridicule someone for a flub that’s completely harmless and was obviously unintended?
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