Barbra Streisand Tells Apple to Fix Siri’s Pronunciation of Last Name
Like Taylor Swift and Kanye West before her, Barbra Streisand has beef with Apple, although the singer’s issues have nothing to do with the company’s streaming service. Instead, Streisand has lodged a complaint to Apple CEO Tim Cook about the way Siri pronounces her last name.
On NPR, and during her recent concerts, Streisand has related a story about becoming upset with how Apple’s in-phone “intelligent personal assistant” stresses the second “S” in her last name to make it sound like a “Z,” like “Streizand.”
“She pronounces my name wrong,” Streisand told NPR’s Scott Simon after demonstrating the mispronunciation on an iPhone. “Streisand with a soft S, like sand on the beach. I’ve been saying this for my whole career.”
Rather than sit back and let it stay mispronounced, Streisand used her clout to fix the problem and have Siri reprogrammed. “And so what did I do? I called the head of Apple, Tim Cook, and he delightfully agreed to have Siri change the pronunciation of my name, finally, with the next update on September 30th,” the singer said. “So let’s see if that happens because I will be thrilled.”
On August 26th, Streisand releases her new album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, featuring her duets with actors and actresses like Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Daisy Ridley, Alec Baldwin, Melissa McCarthy and more. The singer is also currently touring in support of the LP.