The Funniest Reactions to Thomas Jefferson University’s Botched Graduation Ceremony

This is a joke, right? This has to be a joke? The speaker announcing names at a reaching Thomas Jefferson University diploma ceremony botched the ever-living hell out of every graduate's name.

Does this clip of John Travolta butchering singer Idina Menzel's name at the Oscars ring a bell?

via GIPHY

The same thing, but worse, happened during TJU Nursing School's 2024 commencement.

Speaker Ruins Philly, PA Graduation Ceremony Destroying Name Pronunciations

According to crossingbroad.com, the emcee was reportedly 'given a list of names and handed the phonetic pronunciation in case she needed help and she just went with the phonetic list. That’s how you get “Macheenlo E Aubrey” for Meghan Louise Aubrey.'

But the speaker didn't just say ONE name incorrectly, pretty much ALL of them came out scrambled.

Forgive me, but when I first watched the video below, I thought to myself, 'Is she suffering a medical episode? Am I?'

A post shared by Crossing Broad (@crossingbroad)

Give this person an F-!

As you can imagine, social media was quick to sink its teeth into this nightmare and I can understand why.

Here are some of the funnier comments about the epic fail.

Others just felt confused and bad for the students.

Karina Sellhorn Brandao (kispty/Instagram), who says she attended the ceremony, tried to explain what happened.

I'm sure these nursing students worked their entire academic career to stand on stage and receive their diplomas. It's literally what they (and some of their parents) paid for. But these hard workers walked their graduation stage as headscratchers instead.

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I understand public speaking can be overwhelming. As someone who speaks for a living, I can tell you I still get nervous in certain situations. But I've always gone to someone in charge and asked for confirmation about how to pronounce someone's name. There had to have been some sort of rehearsal for this graduation ceremony beforehand unless this particular speaker had to suddenly fill in for the real emcee. I'm just thinking out loud here.

EPIC FAIL: Watch Thomas Jefferson University's Botched Commencement Ceremony

After a few students' names were spoken incorrectly, couldn't SOMEONE of importance at the ceremony stepped in and helped instead of just allowing the speaker to go on ruining the moment?