Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., shot back at Laura Ingraham in a lengthy series of tweets Wednesday night after the Fox News host and guest Joe diGenova joked about the way she pronounces her name.
Ingraham asked diGenova if he noticed and thought that Ocasio-Cortez put on an accent when pronouncing her name.
“She does the Latina thing where she does her, you know, ’Anastasio Ocasio-Cortez,” the attorney said, imitating her accent before jokingly repeating a version of his own name in a heavy Italian accent.
Ocasio-Cortez noticed the “Latina thing” remark and took to Twitter to write: “If by ‘the Latina thing,’ she means I actually do the work instead of just talk about it, then yeah, I’m doing ‘the Latina thing.’ Unless of course she‘s talking about being multilingual, which we know isn’t a ‘Latina thing.’ It’s a ‘21st century’ thing.”
“Siri, show me the brand of ‘economic anxiety’ that mocks Americans of color as unintelligent + unskilled, while *also* mocking those same Americans for speaking more languages than you:” she added with a picture of Ingraham on her show.
Siri, show me the brand of ‘economic anxiety’ that mocks Americans of color as unintelligent + unskilled, while *also* mocking those same Americans for speaking more languages than you: pic.twitter.com/HXBC7Osexu
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 21, 2019
The Democratic Socialist has been a frequent target from conservatives for her views on economics and other issues. Her Green New Deal proposal has been criticized by lawmakers in both the Republican and Democratic parties.
The freshman congresswoman hit back at diGenova’s mocking pronunciation saying she pronounces her name appropriately.
“How dare they refuse to say their name in a wrong accent & not mangle their own family name so that I can feel more comfortable instead of look inside myself & examine why something as small as *a person’s name* makes me uncomfortable in the first place?? This is an outrage!” https://t.co/ArYd28WVcv
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 21, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez also took aim at Fox News hosts for incorrectly referring to her as “Cortez.”
“My last name is not ‘Cortez,’ just as theirs isn’t ‘Ingra’ or ‘Carl’ or ‘Hann,'” she tweeted, referring to Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity.
My last name is Ocasio-Cortez. Full stop. That’s my name.
No, you can’t say “Cortez.” I’ve never used that in my life. “Cortez” is referring to someone else.
Even if they‘re trying to be rude + wrong, my dad’s last name was Ocasio anyway.
(His name was hyphenated too, though.)
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 21, 2019
