‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’: Giada De Laurentiis Gets Roasted by Ellen DeGeneres for How She Pronounces Italian Words

Those who’ve watched The Ellen DeGeneres Show have likely seen one of Giada De Laurentiis’ cooking segments. The Food Network darling has appeared with Ellen DeGeneres multiple times alongside a few other celebrities. And the segments typically don’t go according to plan, as comedic banter ensues and makes the show all the funnier.

In one specific segment, DeGeneres roasts De Laurentiis for how De Laurentiis chooses to pronounce her Italian food, too. Here’s what happened and what fans are saying.

Giada De Laurentiis has had a number of segments on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’

De Laurentiis is a super personable and fun cook, and it’s no wonder why she’s appeared multiple times on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. While De Laurentiis does her best to show DeGeneres all of her amazing dishes and cocktails, something typically goes awry. And her segment with both DeGeneres and Nicole Kidman was particularly tough.

Kidman and De Laurentiis seemed to be at odds during the segment. While Kidman noted she liked to cook methodically and with a timer, De Laurentiis encouraged her to get more creative — but Kidman wasn’t having it. At the end of the segment, Kidman tried one of De Laurentiis’ focaccia dishes and called it “tough” to eat as well.

On another segment after the one with Kidman, De Laurentiis referenced how difficult it was to get through that cooking bit. “She’s not here, right?” De Laurentiis joked about Kidman.

De Laurentiis tried to explain proper Italian pronunciation to Ellen DeGeneres

DeGeneres brought De Laurentiis back for yet another segment despite the blunders of the past. The bit started off strong, as De Laurentiis created a delicious cocktail for DeGeneres. But it all went downhill when DeGeneres pronounced penne pasta wrong.

DeGeneres attempted to correct herself on her pronunciation, but it still wasn’t to De Laurentiis’ liking. “No one says penn-eh,” DeGeneres shot back at De Laurentiis with the corrected pronunciation. “Can I have the penn-eh pasta?”

“Yes! They don’t say penn-ay,” De Laurentiis noted. “What is penn-ay?”

DeGeneres then told De Laurentiis, “We’re not in Italy,” and the conversation moved on to the proper pronunciation of “spaghetti.”

“It’s an Italian dish, so shouldn’t we say it properly?” De Laurentiis continues. “Like, ‘spa-git-tee,’ not ‘spaghetti.'”

“No, that’s not what we should say,” DeGeneres jokes. After a bit more banter, De Laurentiis seems prepared to move forward with the segment, as she’s done arguing over the correct pronunciation.

“They told us to hurry it up, so let’s not argue anymore,” De Laurentiis added.

Fans don’t love De Laurentiis’ pronunciations

DeGeneres was clearly having fun getting some laughs out of De Laurentiis’ pronunciation. And it seems fans are in the same camp as DeGeneres, as they’re also not fans of De Laurentiis’ pronunciation.

“No honey, Italians don’t say ‘pinni’ ‘spighetti’ … your name may be Italian, but your accent is not,” one fan commented on the video.

“She’s talking about pronouncing it properly, but she’s not even doing it,” another added.

“I agree. Her Italian accent sounds ridiculous!” yet another commented. “I feel like she has no right to correct somebody when in fact she even is wrong.”

Considering how many times De Laurentiis has been on the show, it’s clear she and DeGeneres most likely do like each other and just engage in banter for the fun of it. But this segment surely had us wondering if the tension between the comedian and the cook is growing.

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