Biden Mangles Name of Asian American Producer for Second Time In Less Than 2 Months: ‘I Think I Pronounced That Correctly’

President Joe Biden mispronounced the name of Asian American producer Joan Shigekawa for the second time in less than two months on Monday.

During a White House screening of the upcoming Disney show American Born Chinese on Monday — which was held in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month — Biden made reference to his event in March where he “honored a group of trailblazing artists with National Medals of Arts and Humanities.”

“The group included groundbreaking Asian Americans like Vera Wang and Joan Shingan… forgive me… Shangakawawa. I think I pronounced that correctly,” he said, before joking, “She can call me Joe Bidden.”

Monday’s event wasn’t the first time that Biden struggled to pronounce Shigekawa’s name. On March 21, when Biden awarded Shigekawa with the National Medal of Arts, the producer had to remind him how to pronounce her name.

“The contribution of Joan Shi… Joan Shi… Shi… Shi…” he said, prompting the producer to say, “Shigekawa.”

“Shigekawa, thank you. I have trouble pronouncing. You can call me Bidden,” Biden replied, making the same joke he used this week.

Biden has also repeatedly struggled to pronounce the names of other people, including UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who he called “Rashi Sanook” in October 2022. In January, Biden also mispronounced the name of Vice President Kamala Harris.