Instagram comedian Druski horribly mispronounced—and came dangerously close to the “N-Word” —while mangling Seattle Seahawks star Jaxson Smith-Njigba’s name on stage during Thursday’s NFL Honors show, and the Seahawks were none too happy about it.
Smith-Njigba (pronounced Smith-N-jig-ba) was named the AP Offensive Player of the Year at the awards event, beating out the Rams’ Puka Nacua, but when it came time for the controversial comedian to say the player’s name, it went all sorts of wrong.
Indeed, Druski almost came close to calling the player the most forbidden word of all.
He was corrected by NFL legend Barry Sanders, who pronounced the name properly in a deadpan manner, clearly a bit annoyed at the whole situation.
Druski got it mostly right on his first attempt, saying “N-jigba.” But he then veered sharply off track, saying, “Nigaba” — twice. Then saying, “NaJeeba” before giving up entirely and ending with “JSN.”
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The Seattle Seahawks were not amused.
“Hall of Famer Barry Sanders drew the short straw getting stuck with @druski’s big whiff tonight. Put some respect on @Seahawks WR @jaxon_smith1’s name,” the team wrote on Twitter.
Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu was equally annoyed by the comedian’s bad night and wrote, “Druski lame” on X.
“Smith-Njigba had one of the best seasons from a receiver in recent memory. He finished with a league-leading 1,793 yards on 119 receptions while tacking on 10 touchdowns. At one point in November, he was on pace to break Calvin Johnson’s all-time receiving yards record (1,964),” the New York Post noted.
Druski, who is black, has suffered a backlash for having been outed as a frequent attendee of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ drug-fueled and abusive parties. He also recently stirred controversy for dressing up as a white man and portraying NASCAR fans as haters and racists.
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