Vivek Ramaswamy slams ex-DNC chair for ‘racist’ mockery of name

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Vivek Ramaswamy has hit out at a former chair of the Democratic National Committee, after she “intentionally” mispronounced his name and said that he should “go home”.

Donna Brazile, a political strategist and ABC News commentator, made the remarks while appearing on Real Time With Bill Maher – and was called out for apparent “racism”.

In a clip of an exchange with Maher, circulated online, Brazile says “Vivek needs to shut the hell up and go home, I’m tired of him.”

After Maher corrected her on her pronunciation of the Republican presidential hopeful’s first name, Brazile replied “Well whatever…” and proceeded to mispronounce his second name also.

Maher said: “There’s something wrong with everybody refusing to learn to say his name,” later adding, “I just feel there’s a little racism here”.

Brazile responded: “No racism”.

Maher said: “I know we don’t like him but, you know, just say his name right…. I heard him do a rap and he said it rhymes with cake”.

Writing on X in response to a user who had shared the clip, Ramaswamy later wrote: “I wonder what they’d do if a white Republican intentionally mispronounced Donna’s name & then told her to return ‘home.’”

Mr Ramaswamy continues to be a polarising figure in the ongoing race for the GOP candidacy.

On Sunday, he sparked outrage online after pledging to fire half of all federal workers on his first day in the Oval Office if he were to be elected president.

The biotech entrepreneur wrote on X on Sunday that he would “instantly fire 50 per cent of federal bureaucrats” on “day one”.

“Here’s how: if your SSN ends in an odd number, you’re fired,” he added. “That downsizes government by half. Absolutely *nothing* will break as a result.” The comments drew mockery from other X users.

Mr Ramaswamy also recently became embroiled in a heated on-air argument with CNN anchor Abby Phillip, when asked his opinion on alleged “neo-Nazi rhetoric” used by former president Donald Trump.

Mr Trump used the term “vermin” when speaking to a crowd in New Hampshire recently, telling his supporters “We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our county.”

Instead of directly answering the question, Mr Ramaswamy instead lashed out at Phillip, branding her question as “a classic mainstream media move.”