Denzel Washington Reveals You’ve Been Saying His Name Wrong Throughout His Career
Denzel Washington would like to reintroduce himself.
While recently discussing his love of football and NFL players who share his name—including Cleveland Browns corner back Denzel Ward and two additional Denzels on the Arizona Cardinals—the Malcolm X actor joked that they were all named after him despite a major mispronunciation error.
“My name is not actually pronounced Denzel,” he told Jimmy Kimmel during a Sept. 3 appearance on his eponymous late night show, before going on to pronounce his name with emphasis on the first syllable. “My name is pronounced Denzel.”
However, the 70-year-old admitted that he ultimately ended up going by his pseudo-moniker because it helped his mom Lennis Washginton differentiate between him and his dad Denzel Washginton Sr.
“My mother would say, ‘Denzel?’ and we’d both show up,” he recalled. “So she said, ‘From now on, you’re Denzel.’ That’s how we got it pronounced Denzel.”
Of course, the Equalizer alum isn’t the only star to go by a mispronunciation. Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce recently revealed that their last name is technically only one syllable, like ‘Kels’ despite their family separating it into two with ‘Kel-see.’
