How Tom Hanks’ son created a disgusting meme online

In the spring of 2021, singer, actor and Tom’s son, Chet Hanks, posted a series of statements and a lyric video with the chorus, causing uncertainty, not to mention much disappointment. He declared that it was going to be “White Boy Summer”.

No matter what she actually intended on the date, the term has since turned into a slogan for white supremacists and alternative haters, according to a report published Tuesday by the International Mission Against Abhorrence and Extremism, which There is an organization that keeps track of the spread. Of racism.

1000 posts using the slogan “White Boy Summer” have been seen on the Telegram app this hour. The Record states that it has been influenced by far-right groups to hire new fans, arrange protests, and incite violence, particularly toward immigrants and the LGBTQ population.

For many who now value it, the term represents an unapologetic assimilation of white heterosexual masculinity, often at the expense of girls and populations of color.

Increasingly, the meme has moved from the fringes of the Web to the political mainstream in various places in the United States and around the world, said Wendy, one of the founders of the task force.

Jack Posobiec, a podcaster whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has linked to white supremacists, waved a banner with the words “White Boy Summer” at a meeting of Turning Point USA, a conservative task force, in Detroit the previous day. Former President Donald J. Trump was the keynote speaker at the conference along with several members of Congress.

“It’s really about how quickly and how devastatingly something like this can go viral and how much of an impact it has,” Ms. said, using the term coined by Mr. Hanks. Extremists, he said, “are hurting people all over the world in the name of this thing.”

Mr Hanks, 33, did not respond to various requests made through his social media accounts and the capacity company representing him. He began using the term in a line of posts on social media in 2021 about style and alternative recommendations for men. In a similar post, he felt some clarification was needed on the meaning of the words.

“Take it however you want,” she said in a post on Instagram in March. “I’m not talking about Trump, NASCAR-type white people,” he added, intending to refer to populations like himself and two alternative white R&B artists, John B. and Jack Harlow. “Tell me if you guys can agree to this. And get into a state, ’cause I am.’

Their music video – produced under the name Chet Hanks – was released the following month. It was, in a way, an homage to Megan Thee Stallion’s hit song from two years earlier, “Hot Girl Summer”, which featured Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign.

It is filled with profanity as well as sexist and racist comments, but it also ends with an image of Mr. Hanks wearing a shirt that reads “Stop the Hate.”

“White Boy Summer” is not the first artistic creation to be hijacked by white supremacists and used in hate speech online.

Pepe the Frog, a comic book character created by Matt Fury, became so popular in racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic memes that the Anti-Defamation League classified it as a hate symbol in 2016. Mr. Fury killed off the character a year later, but it still circulates in ways he never intended.

Even before the meme, Mr. Hanks had faced criticism for using and defending the use of a racial slur against black people. He has also been accused of cultural appropriation when he began using Jamaican Patois, as an influence, at public events, including the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, where Tom Hanks was presented with the Cecil B. Received the DeMille Award.

As a meme and hashtag, “White Boy Summer” is adopted with each passing summer by groups such as the Proud Boys and “activist clubs”, which blend racist ideologies with martial arts and other activities.

While more prevalent on fringe sites filled with extremist content, including Gab, Rumble, and 4chan, the phrase also regularly appears on Xx, Instagram, Facebook, and other major social media platforms, often alongside Nazi images. The phrase and its various hashtags appear to circumvent policies that prohibit hate speech in part because it is often used euphemistically or sarcastically.

Anti-Defamation League spokesperson Todd Gutnick said, “Although this trend/meme originated from the far right, it is definitely joining more ‘mainstream’ right-wing discourse.”

The International Mission Against Abuse and Extremism reports that the meme is being perpetrated by extremist groups in countries around the world.

One group in France created stickers with the word – in English – to distribute to contributors, another in Finland held an annual contest to stop using the word as their name. Bellingcat, an analysis group that was the subject of the closing hours tournament, reported that attendees “watched far-right bands perform, participated in combat games and mingled with other hate group members in hot tubs.”

“The far right is adept at bringing their hateful ideologies into the mainstream, particularly through the use of social media,” the Record says, “and the already viral ‘White Boy Summer’ has proven perfect for them to spread . His fanaticism towards a wider audience.”

Mr. Hanks, who also previously starred as Chet Hayes, has had a highly publicized struggle with drugs and allegations of domestic abuse, which may have contributed to his rebellious personality as a performer. “He’s a grown man,” his brother, Colin, also an actor, said in a radio interview in 2016, when asked if he ever interfered with Salah. “He’s going to do what he wants to do.”

It appears Tom Hanks has not publicly commented on his dating with Chet Hanks, even though the son recently shared a cross-section of text messages with him regarding the latest feud between rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Posted generational exchange. In an interview with The Unutilized York Times in 2019, the father described his experience as a father or mother.

“Somewhere along the way, I realized, the only thing that really, I think, ultimately a parent can do is to say: ‘I love you, you can do nothing wrong, you’re my feelings. I hope you’ll forgive me sometimes, and what do you want from me?” he said.

Even after the discussion about it began, Mr. Hanks has continued to engage in the meme. “I’ve consulted the heavens, felt the west wind, and walked outside a strip club and seen my reflection…,” he wrote on Instagram in May. “This will be a #WBS.” He ended the post with an emoji of a church.