SNL Roasts Smokey Robinson After he Mispronounces ‘Chanukah’ [VIDEO]

Motown legend Smokey Robinson took some good-natured ribbing from 'Saturday Night Live' this weekend after he botched the pronunciation of the Jewish holiday Chanukah in a personalized greeting to a former Detroit neighbor.

To be fair, the 'C' at the beginning of the word can easily throw you off, especially when the word for the Festival of Lights is expressed as Chanukah rather than Hanukkah, am I right?

Jeff Jacobson paid Smokey $399 to send a Happy Chanukah wish to his mom, who used to live on the same Detroit street as Robinson back in the day. Jacobson solicited the greeting on Cameo, a service that gives customers the opportunity to buy personalized greetings from celebrities.

But Robinson struggled with the pronunciation.

"I did some research," Redd says as Robinson. "The internet has some fantastic resources like Goo-glay (for Google) and Why-Ky-pay-dia (for Wikipedia)."

Redd's character went on to mispronounce words like yarmulke and dreidel, perpetuating the notion that he had just learned about Chanukah and Jewish people. It's a funny and mostly good-natured rip on the Motown legend.

By the way, Jacobson, who made the original request on Cameo, tweeted that he was thrilled by Robinson's greeting to his mom, even with the mispronunciation.

"Smokey Robinson can pronounce it any way he damn well pleases. He is a true legend whose music has been with me since birth. His kindness and generosity of spirit has already made this most-unusual 2020 Chanukah one of my family’s most memorable. Also, my mom says hi.."