It’s a Friday night, so just about anything goes with topic choice, and that means I’m going to write an article on Tom Hanks’ son, Chet Hanks. I know, I know, what could the “white boy summer” dude possibly have to say that’s noteworthy, but I promise you that his exchange with some TikToker named Ziwe is worth the watch.
I don’t follow celebrity news (and this guy barely qualifies), but apparently, all the big celeb publications have been raking the younger Hanks over the coals lately for the supposed sin of “cultural appropriation.” So while the clip I’m going to share is the first I’ve heard of the kerfuffle, this has evidently been going on for a while.
At this point, if you haven’t rushed to hit the back button on your browser yet, you’re probably asking what Hanks did that has caused such consternation. You might want to sit down for this, but he…used a Caribbean Patois.
When asked if he wanted to apologize to “marginalized communities” for that sin and his prior dabbling in black culture, here’s what Hanks had to say. Trust me, it’s worth the watch.
i asked chet hanks if he wanted to apologize to any marginalized communities pic.twitter.com/EEzD9VrtNs
— ziwe (@ziwe) May 6, 2022
Hanks responds with a simple “Nah” when asked if he wants to apologize. When the interviewer then suggests that he’s saying “social-justice warriors can go kick rocks,” he comes back with “yeah…yeah,” before taking a swig of coffee and then repeating that “social-justice warriors can go kick rocks.”
The look on the interviewer’s face is priceless.
Look, far be it from me to suggest there’s much to learn from a white rapper who appears on reality TV shows and feeds off his father’s fame. But in this case, I think his response is actually instructive. Do you want to drive the woke social-justice warriors nuts? All you have to do is tell them to pound sand. All their power is derived from being able to bring to heel others through outrage and pressure campaigns. When you ignore them and don’t apologize, you neuter their ability to do anything but whine into the void.
So let it be known that for a brief moment in time, someone named Chet Hanks actually said something worth paying attention to. I don’t suspect that will become a trend, though.
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