About

Dick Poop is a mispronunciation of American cinematographer Dick Pope said by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (AMPAS) President Cheryl Boone Isaacs during the announcement of the nominees for the Achievement in Cinematography in the upcoming 87th annual Academy Awards.

Origin

On January 15th, 2015, AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs made an on-stage appearance at the Oscar Nominations ceremony to announce the nominees in upcoming 87th annual Academy Awards, scheduled to take place on February 22nd. While reading the list of nominees for the Achievement in Cinematography award, Issacs fumbled on the pronunciation of Dick Pope, the cinematographer for Mr. Turner, and referred to him as "Dick Poop." Although she promptly corrected herself, Issac's gaffe opened up a massive opportunity for toilet humor online.

Spread

Shortly after Boone's on-air gaffe, the phrase "Dick Poop" soon became a trending topic on Twitter, garnering over 27,000 mentions on the site in matter of hours, while it was simultaneously picked up by various news outlets covering the nominees of the year's Academy Awards, including Reuters^[11], NBC Today^[5], ABC News^[9], LA Times^[10] and New York Post^[7], as well as entertainment news blogs like Huffington Post^[12], Mashable^[13], TMZ^[14] and Slate.^[3]

Dick Pope's Response

Later that same day, the 67-years-old English filmmaker responded to his sudden viral fame in an interview with USA Today, in which he brushed off the mispronunciation by saying "[he has] been called a lot worse." According to the article, Pope heard the news via mobile phone shortly after the announcement of his nomination while getting a private tour of J.M.W. Turner's portraits, the subject of the film directed by Mike Leigh.

"You don't need to explain it to me. I have had it explained one hundred times," said Pope. "I feel sorry for the lady who made the mispronunciation."

Search Interest

External References