I just mean that personal pronunciations shouldn't be arbitrary, as in, "Oh, that's just how he pronounces it." A purposeful mispronunciation would be like, "He's read all about them, but has never met one nor spoken to anyone who has," (a reasonable explanation for choosing the wrong pronunciation based purely on spelling) or, "A typical person of this particular class or station pronounces it this way, for xyz reason."
He's clearly not an example of the former, and as well-spoken as someone of Hancock's position needs to be, I just find it very difficult to believe that he would pronounce a racial name, of all things, any way but roo-gadyn.