Music legend Smokey Robinson had the entire Internet full of jokes today after he hilariously mispronounced “Hanukkah” while sending a holiday greeting to a fan on Cameo.
Smokey Robinson is a certified music legend, helping to shape the Motown era as frontman of The Miracles and as a solo R&B star in his own right. However, no amount of records sold or icon status in the game could get anyone to not bust out laughing at the legendary soul crooner’s latest mishap, or should we say mispronunciation.
Image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Celebrity Fight Night
Things started out on a heartfelt note, with a Twitter user by the name Jeff Jacobson (seen above) talking about a connection that Smokey has to his mom, writing, “My mom grew up on the same street as Smokey Robinson in Detroit. So for Chanukah, I wanted to reunite them via @Cameo . But the video takes a strange twist.” The accompanying video does in fact include the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer himself, but his pronunciation of Hanukkah is where things go completely left. It sounds like he’s saying “cha-nookah,” but whatever he’s saying sure made for a good dose of holiday hilarity.
Many people are saying that he simply got confused by the alternate spelling, which can either be written as Hanukkah or Chanukah. It’s totally possible that Smokey is so used to seeing it the first way that the latter spelling was just way too foreign for him to grasp. Still, that possible fact doesn’t make his mistake seem the slightest bit less funny.
Check out some funny reactions on social media below to Smokey Robinson mispronouncing Hanukkah….or Chanukah…or “Cha-nookah”: