---

Akiva Schaffer said the pop star was unbothered by the gaffe: &34;It's fine either way!&34; Rihanna mispronounced her own name on SNL after Andy Samberg's mista

Akiva Schaffer said the pop star was unbothered by the gaffe: "It's fine either way!"

Rihanna mispronounced her own name on SNL after Andy Samberg's mistake

Akiva Schaffer said the pop star was unbothered by the gaffe: "It's fine either way!"

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

EW's editorial guidelines

October 13, 2025 7:00 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Rihanna and Andy Samberg in 'Shy Ronnie' on 'Saturday Night Live'. Credit:

Saturday Night Live/YouTube

- Rihanna's name is correctly pronounced "Ree-ann-ah."

- However, the singer mispronounced her own name in the *Saturday Night Live* digital short "Shy Ronnie."

- Akiva Schaffer said that the gaffe occurred because Rihanna perfectly replicated Andy Samberg's original recording of the song.

Rihanna didn't pronounce her name correctly on *Saturday Night Live* — and it's Andy Samberg's fault.

In the latest episode of their podcast *The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast*, the comedian's Lonely Island bandmate Akiva Schaffer recalled how the "Disturbia" singer's impeccable professionalism led to an unintended gaffe during the recording of the 2009 digital short "Shy Ronnie."

Rihanna has repeatedly stated that the correct pronunciation of her name is Ree-ann-uh, with the first "A" sound equivalent to that in "anvil" or "animate." But the *Naked Gun* director remembered Rihanna singing her name incorrectly ("Ree-awn-uh") as she recorded the song that accompanied the digital short because Samberg had pronounced it that way in the temp track on which she based her performance.

"Andy went, 'Ree-awn-uh and Shy Ronnie,'" Schaffer said. "And then she was so great at recording exactly Andy's inflections to get the jokes perfect that she did that [too]."

Schaffer later was horrified to hear the pop star introduce herself with the correct pronunciation. "I heard her say her name to somebody else out loud, and I went, 'Why did you say "Ree-ann-uh"? Wait, is your name Ree-ann-uh?'" he remembered.

Andy Samberg's Shy Ronnie on 'SNL' was secretly based on HBO character

Andy Samberg wants everyone to know he didn't kill Seth Meyers' dog Frisbee

Rihanna seemed completely unbothered. "She's like, 'It's fine either way!'" Schaffer said. "And I'm like, 'What does your mom call you?' And she's like, 'Ree-ann-uh.' And I'm like, 'Aw.'"

Later in the podcast, cohost Seth Meyers said that Rihanna spoke highly of her "Shy Ronnie" experience during their Day Drinking segment on *Late Night*. "When I did Day Drinking, we talked about this, and she has very fond memories," Meyers recalled.

Rihanna in Los Angeles on June 10, 2024.

Leon Bennett/Getty

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Samberg said that the pop star still invokes the sketch occasionally.

"My favorite thing about Rihanna is when I see her at things like an award show or something, I still to this day don't know if she knows my name," he said. "She always just goes, 'Shy Ronnie!' And I am thrilled to be acknowledged."

The original "Shy Ronnie" was successful enough that Rihanna reteamed with the Lonely Island for a sequel sketch a year later, titled "Shy Ronnie 2: Ronnie & Clyde."

Listen to the full episode of *The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast* above.

Original Article on Source

Source: "AOL TV"

Read More

---

Source: GETTY MAG

Read More >> Full Article on Source: GETTY MAG

#LALifestyle #USCelebrities