Chris Russo hilariously fails to say Barack Obama’s name

Chris Russo has had a rough year when it comes to pronouncing names, but his latest blunder is undoubtedly his worst.

In recent months, Russo has failed to pronounce the name of Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave, former Tampa Bay Lightning head coach John Tortorella. He even couldn’t pronounce the last name of his SiriusXM colleague Damon Amendolara, whom he has known for over two decades. But his most recent pronunciation error is by far the most baffling.

On Friday, Russo was talking about Thursday night’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden when he tried to pronounce the first name of former U.S. President Barack Obama, who served from 2008 to 2016. It went worse than you can imagine.

Barack Obama was President of the United States for eight years.

That’s how Chris “Mad Dog” Russo just said his name. Twice.

This. This is the all-time hit. pic.twitter.com/XyxQLOJprE

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) June 28, 2024

Russo’s first attempt at pronouncing “Barack” sounded like “baracks” – the buildings that house soldiers. Russo probably knew that wasn’t anywhere near the right pronunciation, so he tried again, but it somehow got worse, because his next attempt was “baa-rick.”

Struggling with the names of various athletes and personalities is one thing, but completely mispronouncing the otherwise simple name of a man who was President of the United States for eight years is a whole different matter.

Maybe Russo should just stick with “Obama” next time.

(Jimmy Traina)