Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu praised for insisting on correct name pronunciation

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu has garnered support for her insistence that Dawn Neesom pronounce her name correctly on television.

The lawyer, activist and political commentator was a featured guest on Wednesday’s edition of Jeremy Vine (10 May).

For this episode, Neesom hosted the news-based Channel 5 talk show on Vine’s behalf.

At the beginning of a discussion segment, Neesom introduced Mos-Shogbamimu but failed to pronounce her surname in full.

Acknowledging her verbal fumble, Neesom asked: “How do you pronounce your name, Shola?”

“Read it, my dear,” Mos-Shogbamimu replied.

After another failed attempt from Neesom, Mos-Shogbamimu stated her dissatisfaction with the host’s handling of her name. “So this is terrible, especially for presenting,” she said, before confirming that her surname could be read phonetically.

Neesom then read her guest’s name slowly, after which Mos-Shogbamimu asked her to do it again.

Still, Neesom struggled and attempted to move on from the moment. “Shola, welcome to the show!” she said with a laugh.

Mos-Shogbamimu, however, was undeterred, and would not allow the moment to pass without her name said correctly. “No no, you will say my name – now read it phonetically.”

A clip of the exchange was then uploaded to social media by a viewer with the caption: “Auntie Shola said we’re not moving on until you pronounce my name right.” The video gained more than 100,000 views within two hours of being online.

Many have expressed their support for the lawyer in standing up for the correct pronunciation of her name.

“Good for her! I wish I did this at school to be honest,” wrote one viewer.

Another Twitter user linked the exchange to one they’d experienced themselves: “I get my surname pronounced wrong all the time. As a kid I let it go, now I correct people. It’s my name, say it properly.”

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“My first thought was that her name wasn’t spelt phonetically but it absolutely is,” wrote a different user. “Double-checking the pronunciation of someone’s name BEFORE going live with them should be basic for a presenter.”

Praising Mos-Shogbamimu, another person wrote: “I love that she did this. And I love that she did it with so much grace.”

In response to the video, Neesom left a laughing emoji and replied to a comment about the video by stating: “I couldn’t pronounce my own name this morning!”

The Independent has reached out to representatives for Mos-Shogbamimu and Neesom for comment.

Mos-Shogbamimu has previously called out hosts for a lack of effort in getting her name right. In January 2022, she insisted that Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway took the time to learn how her name should be said.