Only ‘Clueless’ Mispronunciation Of Haiti Is Acceptable

Ugh! As if!

In tonight’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the comic host delved into one of the main talking points having come out of the presidential debate held earlier this month: that of the GOP ticket’s parroting of a baseless racist dog whistle regarding the Haitian immigrant community in Springfield, Ohio.

Oliver began the segment by playing Donald Trump’s much-memed and discussed clip where he falsely claimed that Haitians were eating pets, a notion that running mate J.D. Vance had circulated (and since walked back) and that originated in neo-Nazi groups.

In playing a video of Vance first discussing the discredited conspiracy theory, the VP candidate is seen mispronouncing the Caribbean nation as “Haitia.”

Not missing a beat, the talk show host quipped, “First, there is only one Haiti-related mispronunciation we recognize in this house, and it’s Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, delivering the iconic line: ‘And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haiteeans.”

Oliver is, of course, referencing the ’90s classic teen movie, inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma, which stars Silverstone as a Cher Horowitz, a high schooler with the makings of a socialite, as she uses her matchmaking prowess to court the new girl in town (Brittany Murphy) into her popular squad, to disastrous ends.

In a 2022 interview with Looper, the actress confirmed a long-standing claim that she did not, in fact, know how to pronounce the word “Haitians.” Filmmaker Amy Heckerling stopped the pic’s script supervisor from rushing up to correct Silverstone, opting to keep that take in the final cut.

“She was like, ‘Stop,’ and she didn’t let anybody go near me because she loved that I was saying it wrong.”