Louisville Metro Police Officer Deidre Mengedoht was killed just before Christmas while she was conducting a routine traffic stop on Interstate 64. The 32-year-old had just pulled over a pickup truck when an intoxicated semitruck pummeled into her vehicle, causing it to instantly catch fire and kill the officer inside. The truck driver was later charged with murder and operating a vehicle under the influence.
Several days later on a Dec. 29 broadcast, WPSD’s Brianna Clark was reporting on Mengedoht’s funeral and read the officer’s name as “Dee Dee Megadoodoo.” To be fair, the slowed pace of Clark’s speech suggests that there might have been an issue with the teleprompter script. Or, she just didn’t know how to pronounce ‘Mengedoht,’ and went with the first series of letters that made sense to her.
Which in this case made for a comical flub, despite the tragic subject matter.
new fav vid pic.twitter.com/ApdCa38BTi
— jim’s cool website.com (@urvillageidiot) January 2, 2019
Naturally, Twitter went wild with glee at the newscaster’s mistake.
My smash main is King DeDeMegaDooDoo
— Kyle 🌱 (@KylePlantEmoji) January 2, 2019
I can’t imagine a greater sin for a local news person than mispronouncing a dead cop’s name
— Stephen Silver (@StephenSilver) January 2, 2019
My deepest sympathies to the family of Det. Dee Dee (her chosen nickname) Mengedoht, a 32 year old mother who serviced her community for over 7 years….
But this is the funniest screw up I have ever seen.
— Skidz (@TA_Skidz) January 2, 2019
dee dee mega doo doo
— YOUNG AND HOT! (@tayallard) January 2, 2019
Is this a captain underpants villain?
— tom nook apologist Ⓥ (@KeanaBanana98) January 2, 2019
"That's the worst name I ever heard, Homer"
— 尺乇ᐯ乇尺乇几ᗪ 卂. 爪ㄖㄥ乇几卂卂尺 丨丨丨 (@RevAMol) January 2, 2019
i'm weeping https://t.co/U7sBjGmvqh
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) January 2, 2019
The original video was posted to Reddit, where people were quick to point out that, in Clark’s defense, the officer’s nickname was DeeDee, and also in Clark’s defense, she may have been set up/pranked by other news station employees.
Adding irony to tragedy, the semitruck that killed Mengedoht was a sewage truck.
(And before everyone gets upset, nobody here is laughing at the subject matter or the circumstances under which a young officer and mother’s life was taken. Instead, we’re laughing to keep from crying, and because the situation itself is ridiculous, and because a newscaster turned a somber moment into a funny one by butchering the pronunciation of the cop’s name in the worst possible way. We’re laughing at Clark’s genuine mistake—not DeeDee Mengedoht’s passing.)