Tom Hanks 30-year-old son Chet Hanks is facing backlash after he shared a video claiming the summer of 2021 was going to be a “white boy summer”. The son of the 64-year-old Hollywood legend, and fellow actor Rita Wilson took to Instagram on March 26 to share a selfie video while sitting in a car. “I just got this feeling man that this summer is about to be a white boy summer, take it how you want,” he began. “I’m not talking about [Donald] Trump, Nascar type white boy summer, I’m talking about me, John B, Jack Harlow type white boy summer,” he added, referencing a character from the Netflix show Outer Banks, and a popular DJ.
I will never stop screaming pic.twitter.com/aJlwo1gbqm
— Rap Game Ina Garten (@KaraBTweets) March 27, 2021
He added, “Let me know if you guys can vibe with that, and get ready, because I am.” In the caption, Chet wrote, “Is it bout to be a #WhiteboySummer or am I trippin ???? Tag a REAL vanilla king #Respectfully.” Despite the clearly problematic nature of his Instagram hot take, Twitter users reacted in the funniest way possible. “chet hanks is the price tom hanks paid to become tom hanks,” one user wrote, while another joked, “chet hanks is exactly what suburban parents in 2007 thought would happen to their children if they let them listen to like half a Lil Wayne song.”
Other users were shocked that Tom, one of the most respected and non-controversial A-listers in Hollywood, was Chet’s father. “I physically can not imagine Chet Hanks and Tom Hanks talking to each other,” one person tweeted, while another joked, “Chet Hanks is proof that you can do everything right in the world and kids will still embarrass tf outta you.”
I physically can not imagine Chet Hanks and Tom Hanks talking to eachother
— Kevin MickGinny (@KevMacGint) March 27, 2021
Others had more elaborate theories. “You will never convince me that Chet Hanks is anything but an elaborate prank designed by Hollywood execs to test the limits of Tom Hanks’ marketability,” and one user even revealed they would be interested in a reality show about the dynamic between Chet and his 43-year-old brother Colin Hanks. “I am, not in the slightest interested in reality tv, but, if someone were to make one documenting the relationship between Colin and Chet Hanks, including occasional guest appearances by Tom and Rita, I would obsessively watch it. Like, I would host watch parties and everything.”