Who is George Kirby? Nancy Pelosi slammed after forgetting George Floyd's name, 'she just doesn't care'
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, mixed up names on June 26 as she spoke to reporters during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill about the Democratic bill in the House on police reform that had been named after George Floyd. Pelosi said the bill will be worthy of "George Kirby's name" leading to many Republican supporters calling her out.
George Floyd was the 46-year-old African-American man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020 when former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes despite pleas from Floyd that he could not breathe. George Kirby, on the other hand, was an African-American comedian, actor and singer who was successful during the Civil Rights era in the 60s and 70s. Kirby passed away in 1995.
"And I said 'I'll recommend that to the Judiciary Committee and to the Congressional Black Caucus who have shaped the bill, but I only will do that if you tell me that this legislation is worthy of George Kirby's name', and he said it is, and so we're very proud, we're very proud to carry that," she said when referring to her conversation with Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd.
Just a few days earlier, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer referred to "Floyd Taylor" — accidentally putting together the names of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police earlier this year in Kentucky. He immediately clarified the remark. While Pelosi did not acknowledge her mistake, she had referred to George Floyd by name earlier while answering a reporter's question.
Many Republican supporters grabbed the opportunity and took to social media to mock Pelosi for referring to the comedian instead of George Floyd while speaking on the police reform bill. One user tweeted, "Speaker Pelosi talks about assuring George Floyd's daughter that his name is never forgotten… as she calls him 'George Kirby'." Another wrote, "Wow. @SpeakerPelosi says she'll only support a police reform bill that's 'worthy' of George Kirby's name. She's talking about George Floyd. George Kirby is a Black comedian who died in 1995. Goes to show how much she cares. Spoiler: She doesn't."
Matt Wolking, Deputy Director of Communications for United States President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign tweeted, "So Nancy Pelosi referred to George Floyd as 'George Kirby' and Chuck Schumer called him 'Floyd Taylor' and 'George Taylor'. These are the people blocking police accountability legislation."
A user tweeted, "Why is Nancy Pelosi referring to George Floyd as George Kirby? Is she starting to suffer from the same cognitive issues Joe Biden is?" referring to the former Vice President's gaffe when he said that over 120 million people had died from Covid-19 in the United States. At the time, the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in the United States was just over 122,000.
A user shared, "I am not convinced that Congressional leaders who refer to George Floyd as 'Floyd Taylor', 'George Taylor' and 'George Kirby' are super locked in on a serious police reform debate." Another wrote, "The guy's name was George Floyd, not George Kirby @SpeakerPelosi Wow! This shows you how disingenuous their care for the black community really is, they already forgot the poor man's name smh."