Brendan Fraser has revealed that folks have been saying his name wrong for yonks and I am confused to say the least.
Fraser spilled the beans during Variety‘s latest Actors on Actors interview with Adam Sandler, where the dynamic duo had a wee Airheads reunion. It’s a film I’ve never seen but somehow vividly remember due to its iconic cover art, which I walked past a million times at Blockbuster when I was a child.
Anyway, Sandler introduced Fraser by saying, “Ladies and gentleman, Brendan Fraaaayyzzsss— how do you say it again?” and Mr George of the Jungle corrected him.
“It’s Fray-zer, like that thing you shave with” Fraser replied.
“Let me say Fray-zsur,” Sandler said.
“You know what? Nobody has ever gotten my name right,” Fraser posited.
Sandler then re-introduced Fraser with, “Ladies and gentleman, Brendan Fraaaaay-zer,” and said it didn’t sound right.
“It felt good, though,” Fraser replied.
And scene.
Yes, I have thoughts and feelings, why do you ask?
First things first, I do not wish to sound like a close-mind swine. I understand that not all words are pronounced phonetically.
However, I simply do not understand how else Brendan Fraser’s name can be pronounced other than Bren-dun Fray-zer. Or Fray-za, if you want to be really picky about the way Aussies would say it.
Is this simply an American thing, like how they say “aloom-inum” foil and pronounce “Craig” like it rhymes with “egg”? Or how they say “caramel” like that second “A’ deadass doesn’t exist?
If so, how are they under the belief that Brendan Fraser’s name is pronounced like Kelsey Grammer‘s Frasier Crane, the titular character in Frasier? There is no “I” in “Fraser”, so why would it be pronounced like “Frasier”?
Also, Frasier started in 1993, and Fraser made his film debut in 1991 in a flick called Dogfight. Unlike the chicken and the egg, we know that the Fraser came before the Frasier, so how did this rogue “I” sound appear in the actor’s name?
I am going delirious. I don’t know what is real or fake anymore.
Alas, Twitter reacted to the news in a way which I can only imagine is similar to when people learned that Alexander Fleming had discovered penicillin. Shock, wonder, awe and intrigue.
i’ve been saying brendan fraser’s name wrong for years pic.twitter.com/I7vs8oEbUA
— Jared Gilman (@realJaredGilman) December 9, 2022
Today I learned it’s pronounced “Brendan Fraser” (as in blazer, laser, taser). And I just think that if we’re all rooting for him and lovin’the guy– as we SHOULD– we should also start saying his name right. pic.twitter.com/Qaw8zPSBqw
— mantis toboggan, m.d. (@CoolStevenn) December 6, 2022
PSA: Just learned Brendan Fraser pronounces his last name as if it rhymes with “razor” and we’ve all been saying it wrong this whole time including me
— George Christanza (@GeorgeChristanz) December 8, 2022
Brendan Fraser, if you’re reading this, I am so sorry that folks have been butchering your name since day dot. Judging by this clip I found on Twitter, it would appear this mispronunciation thing has been going on for a while.
A reminder from #BrendanFraser pic.twitter.com/HCX6BgvYyv
— ⭐️ The Brenaissance (internet friend) ⭐️ (@TheBrenaissance) November 19, 2021
Thoughts, prayers, commiserations and so on, my king.
