Chet Hanks, son of esteemed actor Tom Hanks, responded Wednesday after a report highlighted how his “white boy summer season” phrase gave rise to a far-right slogan.
In response to a Tuesday report by the World Challenge In opposition to Hate and Extremism, the “white boy summer season” phrase has been utilized by extremist teams all over the world, together with the Proud Boys and White Lives Matter, to “unfold propaganda, recruit new members, and facilitate focused hate campaigns together with acts of vandalism and hate incidents.”
Hanks wrote in an Instagram publish on Wednesday that that was not the intention of the slogan and his subsequent “White Boy Summer time” music video, which seems to riff on Megan Thee Stallion’s 2019 music “Scorching Woman Summer time.”
“White boy summer season was created to be enjoyable, playful, and a celebration of fly white boys who love stunning queens of each race,” the 33-year-old Hanks stated in his publish. “The rest that it has been twisted into to help any form of hate or bigotry in opposition to any group of individuals is deplorable and I condemn it.”
In his “White Boy Summer time” music, Hanks momentarily emulates a Jamaican accent and raps aimlessly about getting cash and girls: “She let me beat it, I’m the white boy surprise, uh/Unhealthy gyal, white don dada/Impolite boy, it’s a white boy summer season.”
The music, launched in April 2021, got here out after he’d posted a video on-line that used the time period after which tried to make clear that he wasn’t “speaking about Trump, NASCAR-type white.”
“I’m speaking about, you already know, me, Jon B, Jack Harlow sort white boy summer season,” he stated.
Critics have additionally referred to as out the font used within the “White Boy Summer time” merchandise, which has been linked to a font utilized by white nationalists, The Guardian beforehand reported.
GPAHE reported that the “white boy summer season” and its WBS acronym have surged in recognition on Telegram every summer season since Hanks coined the time period. The report says the phrase was used to glorify violence, goal the LGBTQ group and champion white supremacist causes.
The phrase has additionally been embraced by white supremacist Nick Fuentes and hard-right political activist Jack Posobiec, an ally of Donald Trump.
“This underscores the profound social accountability that public figures bear of their phrases and actions,” the report says. “The World Challenge In opposition to Hate and Extremism emphasizes the necessity for these with highly effective platforms to stay vigilant in opposition to irresponsible statements that can be utilized for instruments of hate and division.”