Reese Witherspoon’s Southern accent in her Draper James ad: hokey or fine?

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Many commenters hate that I have strong feelings about bangs. But does anyone care that I also have strong feelings about accents? I do. I really do. More specifically, I have strong feelings about really over-the-top, hokey, patronizing accents. I loathe when British people “put on” an American accent to mock us. I hate when non-New Yorkers butcher the New York accent. No one but a true Bostonian should ever attempt the Boston accent. And living here in the South, I hate when people fake their Southern accents. When you’re attuned to the real Southern accent, a fake Southern accent sounds like fingernails on a chalk board.

Which brings me to Reese Witherspoon. Reese grew up in Tennessee. By any stretch of the imagination, she has a real Tennessee accent. After living and working in LA and doing many films where she had to lose the Southern accent and adopt a flatter, more all-purpose accent, I would suspect that Reese probably isn’t even conscious of when she sounds “Tennessee” and when she sounds “LA.” It happens. But whatever she’s doing in this promotional video for her Draper James brand is… too much. That’s not real. That’s hokey as hell.

Draper James is basically “Southern Goop,” at least that’s what Reese hopes. She wants Draper James to carve out a healthy piece of clothing/lifestyle/southern-charm pie. She wants the branding to be… like, nouveau Designing Women. Thus, the accent. It sounds awful. It’s like she’s trying to sound like Daisy Duke.

For reference, this is Reese’s natural accent, as heard on her arrest video. Keep in mind, she was sh-tfaced and most Southerns sound even more twangy when they’re drunk. That’s what she really sounds like. Not this fake-Alabama, “BISCUIT EMOJI Y’ALL” nonsense.

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Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

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16 Responses to “Reese Witherspoon’s Southern accent in her Draper James ad: hokey or fine?”

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  1. jerkface says:

    “Not this fake-Alabama, “BISCUIT EMOJI Y’ALL” nonsense.”
    I love this sentence.

    You’re right. Its hokey. And I forgot this woman was arrested for drunk driving and sassing an officer hahahaha f*ck yeah thats funny (but also bad, don’t drink and drive and sass)

  2. Coop says:

    SOOOOOOOOO LAME

  3. roses says:

    Man that video never gets old LOL.

  4. cdoggy says:

    The very worst Southern accents of all time are done on that ID tv “Southern Fried Homicide”. It is downright ridiculous.

  5. MellyMel says:

    It’s hokey for sure, but as a Southern woman myself I know the “pain” of people not from around here and my Iphone not understanding y’all and all y’all! And yes when i get drunk or I’m really pissed off my accent is really really strong. Weird how that happens!

  6. Jenn4037 says:

    Nothing close to a Tennessee accent. Her store is cute. Full of overpriced clothing for tiny people and home accents. They serve sweet tea while you shop and are offended when you turn them down. The double insult probably came from the Sprinkles Cupcake bag I carried with me.

  7. Mop top says:

    Ugh. Thank you for reminding me why I don’t like her.

  8. Joy says:

    It’s cute how she had no reference to being southern for over a decade then BOOM look marketing.

  9. KittenFarts says:

    She could be macauley culkins mom

  10. sage says:

    Ha, I love her arrest video..”Do you know who I am” lol.

    Tracy Flick forever!

  11. CL says:

    As a southerner, I’d like to remind Reece that “y’all” is plural already. It is a conjunction of “you all”.
    In case you are wondering, I earned a degree in English from a school that can’t spell “dog”.
    😉

  12. Shelley says:

    I thought it was just me. Her “accent” was darn annoying.

  13. CharlotteCharlotte says:

    Fake accents are the worst. I don’t think too many would disagree with you there. Though, I think for some people they only hate it when it’s their own accent being copied and/or; they find hilarious otherwise. Kiwi and Aussie accents seem to be universally fair game, for instance.

  14. MickeyM says:

    Agreed. “I’m an American Citizen” video never gets old! “He doesn’t have jurisdiction over the ground he speaks on. . . ” HA HA. Legally Blonde really went to that one’s head.

  15. missgeist says:

    draper james is southern talbots