Yahoo Lifestyle Chet Hanks Responds To Report On His 'White Boy Summer' Becoming An Extremist Slogan
Chet Hanks, son of esteemed actor Tom Hanks, responded Wednesday after a report highlighted how his “white boy summer” phrase gave rise to a far-right slogan.
According to a Tuesday report by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, the “white boy summer” phrase has been used by extremist groups around the world, including the Proud Boys and White Lives Matter, to “spread propaganda, recruit new members, and facilitate targeted hate campaigns including acts of vandalism and hate incidents.”
Hanks wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday that that was not the intention of the slogan and his subsequent “White Boy Summer” music video, which appears to riff on Megan Thee Stallion’s 2019 song “Hot Girl Summer.”
“White boy summer was created to be fun, playful, and a celebration of fly white boys who love beautiful queens of every race,” the 33-year-old Hanks said in his post. “Anything else that it has been twisted into to support any kind of hate or bigotry against any group of people is deplorable and I condemn it.”
In his “White Boy Summer” song, Hanks momentarily emulates a Jamaican accent and raps aimlessly about getting money and women: “She let me beat it, I’m the white boy wonder, uh/Bad gyal, white don dada/Rude boy, it’s a white boy summer.”
The song, released in April 2021, came out after he’d posted a video online that used the term and then attempted to clarify that he wasn’t “talking about Trump, NASCAR-type white.”
“I’m talking about, you know, me, Jon B, Jack Harlow type white boy summer,” he said.
Critics have also called out the font used in the “White Boy Summer” merchandise, which has been linked to a font used by white nationalists, The Guardian previously reported.
GPAHE reported that the “white boy summer” and its WBS acronym have surged in popularity on Telegram each summer since Hanks coined the term. The report says the phrase was used to glorify violence, target the LGBTQ community and champion white supremacist causes.
The phrase has also been embraced by white supremacist Nick Fuentes and hard-right political activist Jack Posobiec, an ally of Donald Trump.
“This underscores the profound social responsibility that public figures bear in their words and actions,” the report says. “The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism emphasizes the need for those with powerful platforms to remain vigilant against irresponsible statements that can be used for tools of hate and division.”
