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‘Last Week Tonight’: John Oliver Mocks J.D. Vance’s Pronunciation Of Haiti, Says Alicia Silverstone’s In ‘Clueless’ Is The Only One “We Recognize In This House”

In 'Last Week Tonight,' John Oliver decreed that only one person gets away with mispronouncing Haiti — and it's certainly not J.D. Vance.

Not missing a beat, the talk show host quipped, “First, there is only one Haiti-related mispronunciation we recognize in this house, and it’s Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, delivering the iconic line: ‘And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haiteeans.” Oliver is, of course, referencing the ’90s classic teen movie, inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma, which stars Silverstone as a Cher Horowitz, a high schooler with the makings of a socialite, as she uses her matchmaking prowess to court the new girl in town (Brittany Murphy) into her popular squad, to disastrous ends. In a 2022 interview with Looper, the actress confirmed a long-standing claim that she did not, in fact, know how to pronounce the word “Haitians.” Filmmaker Amy Heckerling stopped the pic’s script supervisor from rushing up to correct Silverstone, opting to keep that take in the final cut.

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