Raven Symoné isn’t “tripping” over how her fans say her name.
The actress and singer, who has been in the entertainment industry for over 30 years, recently responded to the commotion she caused last week regarding the actual pronunciation of her last name. For context, in the viral TikTok video shared on January 20, Symoné is seen using a voice-over track and captions, which included the proper spelling and way to enunciate her name as she sat in what appears to be her car.
In the caption, the 37-year-old wrote, “Yo, it’s Raven Symoné. It’s pronounced See-mon-ye.” As the video began circulating online, many fans brought up how they distinctly remembered Symoné herself, also mispronouncing her last name on past Disney Channels’ commercials when promoting various projects on the network.
“Well you were the one saying “my name’s Raven (Suh-Moan) and you’re watching Disney channel.”
“The whole time ‘I’m raven simone and you’re watching Disney Channel’ you could have said it right cause how they gon make you say your own name wrong.”
“Then why didn’t you pronounce it that way on Disney channel?”
“But you didn’t say it like that on Disney.”
A few days later, on January 22, Symoné addressed those fans’ pronunciation claims and some negative responses she received in another video. The That’s So Raven star explained why she never said her name the proper way on The Disney Channel.
“People out here real mad that I never said, ‘hey, my name is Raven (See-mon-ye), and you’re watching Disney Channel.’ I didn’t do that cause at a very young age, I was told to say my name is Raven (Si-mone), and it just never left my body.” Symoné revealed.
Later in the recording, Symoné expressed that, despite sharing the exact way to pronounce her last name, she will not correct anyone if they say it wrong.
“Except for when I go to French-speaking countries, I’m like yeah, it is spelled that way, and that’s how it should be pronounced. But coming here, Raven (Si-mone) is just fine. So yes, I don’t trip over it. I don’t correct people. But yes, the correct spelling of my name is pronounced Raven (See-mon-ye), but you can call me Raven (Si-mone). I’m not tripping over it,” Symoné said.