- President Biden decided not to say the name of any company during the APEC speech
- He joked that it was better to “try and not mispronounce” than to “mispronounce”
- It came after he botched the name of the sprawling Moscone Center
President Joe Biden waved the white flag rather than struggle to pronounce a corporate entity’s challenging name during remarks at the APEC summit Thursday.
While praising American business innovation, Biden decided to skip naming a business entity rather than trashing its name in comments about innovation and performance.
‘IBM, Organon, Visa. Look, they’re doing well, they’re making our region more resilient and more secure,” Biden said, renaming the companies.
“Here in this world-renowned center of innovation, leading tech companies like Anthropic and – I’m going to mispronounce it. I’m not even going to try,” Biden said, stopping himself.
“I’m going to mispronounce it,” Biden told the crowd during a speech at APEC. He said it is better to skip a company’s name in his speech than to mispronounce it
“It’s better not to try and not pronounce it wrong than to try and mispronounce it,” he noted before continuing with his remarks. “The point is that start-up small and medium-sized businesses are also getting an emphasis,” Biden said.
His comment received a warm laugh from the crowd of dignitaries and officials from the Asia-Pacific region.
Biden, who overcame a speech impediment as a child, had moments earlier botched the name of the cavernous event space where he spoke in downtown San Francisco.
“The Marcone Center is about the size of my state,” confusing the name of the Moscone Center. It is named after former San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, who was murdered along with San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.
On Wednesday, Biden avoided another potentially challenging name when he didn’t dare try to mention CBS White House correspondent Weijia Jiang.
Biden botched the name of the Moscone Center during his remarks
Biden read from a pre-prepared list of names he could use at his press conference on Wednesday, calling on “CBS” instead of naming White House correspondent Weijia Jiang
“CBS, I don’t remember who CBS is, I’m sorry,” Biden said when he called her on at his press conference, reading from a pre-prepared list of questioners.
Although Biden did not name the company he wanted to highlight, he did greet the business community in general, during a trip that focused on American investments and “friendshoring.”
“All of the announcements translate into real country results that matter to people’s lives and are evidence that a strong, dynamic U.S. economy is an engine of growth and economic growth innovation across the region,” he said.
Biden said more than 60 percent of US exports go to APEC countries, while companies at the summit had announced $50 billion in investments in APEC companies.