US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “very proud” to honor the name of “George Kirby” while referring to a House police reform bill named after George Floyd.
Pelosi was answering a journalist’s question about the House police reform bill during a Friday press conference. In her response, Pelosi reminisced about meeting Floyd’s brother at the time he was speaking before the House.
Pelosi recalled Philonise Floyd asking her if he could tell his niece, George’s six-year-old daughter, that his name would “always be remembered” because the bill would be named in his memory.
The House speaker said she would recommend naming the legislation after Floyd, but only if his brother felt it was “worthy” of his name. It was at his point that Pelosi referred to the late Floyd as “George Kirby.”
George Kirby was in fact a prominent African American comedian and actor who died of Parkinson’s Disease in 1995. The slip-up prompted a quick-acting netizen to sneakily add the (fake) news that a US police reform bill would be named after the late comedian to his Wikipedia page on Friday.
From Wikipedia’s page on George Kirby: “On June 26th, 2020 it was announced by Speaker Pelosi that a police reform bill would be named in his honor.” pic.twitter.com/cVavMK3aOP
George Floyd’s name has become synonymous with movements against racial injustice and police brutality around the world since footage of his death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer went viral in May.
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