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Barbra Streisand: I called Tim Cook about Siri mispronouncing name

(The Hill) — Barbra Streisand says after discovering that the iPhone’s Siri was mispronouncing her name, she went straight to the top with her concerns.

“I said my name isn’t with a ‘z’ — it’s Streisand, like sand on the beach,” the legendary singer said in a Sunday interview with the BBC after learning that Apple devices weren’t reading the name correctly.


“Now, how simple can you get? Sand on the beach,” the 81-year-old “Funny Girl” star repeated.

“I decided, how do I change this?” the performer wondered aloud while promoting her new memoir “My Name is Barbra.”

“I like solving problems,” Streisand continued.

“I figured I better call… the head of Apple, [CEO] Tim Cook,” she said.

“And he had Siri change the pronunciation of my name to be correct,” Streisand said with a grin.

“That’s one perk of fame,” she contended.

The BBC’s Mark Savage asked Siri a question about Streisand to test its delivery, and the politically active entertainer cheered in approval when the Apple’s digital assistant gave the beach-rhyming pronunciation.

“Isn’t it right?” she exclaimed, before shouting, “Woo!”