Media outlets are questioning Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis about the multiple ways to pronounce his last name, and the candidate is rejecting the narrative as "ridiculous" and "stupid."
"It's ridiculous, these stupid things," DeSantis told a reporter this week who asked how to pronounce his last name. "Listen, the way to pronounce my last name: 'Winner.'"
Media has noted both the candidate and his campaign have pronounced his last name a few ways, including:
The DeSantis campaign and his super PAC Never Backed Down declined to give the preferred pronunciation, Axios reported.
The flap has the Trump campaign seizing on it for its own narratives.
"Ron DeSantis is a phony who can't decide how to pronounce his name," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told Axios. "If you can't get your name right, how can you lead a country?"
Trump himself chimed in and piled on with his "Ron DeSanctimonious" moniker.
"Have you heard that 'Rob' DeSanctimonious wants to change his name, again," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He is demanding that people call him DeeeSantis, rather than DaSantis. Actually, I like 'Da' better, a nicer flow, so I am happy he is changing it. He gets very upset when people, including reporters, don't pronounce it correctly. Therefore, he shouldn't mind, DeSanctimonious?"
Seton Hall University Italian Studies Professor William Connell said the Italian DeSantis might properly go by "Day-Santis."
"'Day-Sahn-tees' would be proper Italian, but sloughing it off as 'Duh-Santis' is common," Connell told Axios. "But 'Dee-Santis' is unusual because that would be spelled 'DiSantis' in Italian."
Former New York City Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio took a shot at DeSantis for Axios, saying the pronunciation of his last name is "just a really weird thing to change at the last minute."
"People flip-flop and change their positions on things, but how you say your name is not one of them," de Blasio told Axios. "It's not negotiable!"