Rob Finnerty went scorched earth on a peculiar enemy during a Newsmax meltdown on Tuesday, using an Irish accent to make his flawed point.
The host used his primetime show, Finnerty, to needle the use of proper Spanish pronunciation by news anchors. He used the example of an New York City mayoral debate on NBC in which Telemundo 47 anchor Rosarina Bretón was taking part as a moderator.
She was introduced by the NBC News host with a Spanish accent, including the correct intonation for her surname, riling Finnerty. “I just don’t get why we do this, who started this, when this started,” he began.
“Whenever it is a Spanish name, we are all suddenly required and expected to shape-shift into the perfect Spanish accent. Normal everyday newspeople do it all the time, they forget years of training, they forget their non-regional diction.”
Finnerty, getting more fired up, added, “That Telemundo anchor, by the way, Rosarina Breton. Just say Rosarina Breton.” He used a flat American accent to deliver the name.
“But for some reason we all feel the need to pronounce it like we’re living in Mexico,” he moaned. “Like we’re living in a country where Spanish is the native tongue. That’s not the case here in the U.S.”
He then repeated the anchor’s name in an exaggerated fashion. “I couldn’t understand what he was saying!” Finnerty added.
Things took a weird turn at this point, with the host using an even more exaggerated Irish accent. “I am Irish, and if I was moderating that debate, would the host introduce me as ‘Robert James Finnerty, don’t ya know the little lad that he is! Robert James Finnerty!’”
“If the host was Chinese, would the host then introduce that person with a Chinese accent?” he then asked, thankfully opting against using the accent. “I don’t think so, so stop doing it when they’re Spanish!”
He also messed up when he tried to slam the use of “all three names” for Hispanic people, using Kilmar Abrego Garcia—or Kílmar Ábrego García in the original Spanish—as an example. The Maryland father gained widespread attention after the Trump administration wrongfully deported him to El Salvador in March and has since become a lightning rod for MAGA ire.
“It’s just Kilmar Garcia,” Finnerty insisted, wrongly. “I don’t know who started this, but enough’s enough. Stop! Just stop.”
In Spanish-speaking countries, the naming system simply reflects both sides of a person’s family, the father’s surname followed by their mother’s.
In formal or legal contexts, both surnames are used, but informally, people often use just the father’s surname. Given these customs, Robert James Finnerty is wrong about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. In his native El Salvador he is known as Kílmar Ábrego, using his father’s surname, not as Kílmar García.
The bizarre segment was broadcast as President Donald Trump, 79, went into embarrassing grandpa mode at a summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Wednesday, attempting an Indian accent.
Gushing over Narendra Modi, describing the Indian prime minister as “the nicest-looking guy,” Trump then attempted to impersonate him.
“He’s tough as hell,” Trump said, before launching into a Modi impersonation, complete with what sounded like an attempt at an Indian accent: “No, we will fight!”
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