After drawing some ire for speaking in patois in his recent Instagram posts, the son of Tom Hanks challenges the definition of 'stealing' one's culture in a lengthy video.
- Feb 6, 2020
AceShowbiz - Chet Hanks a.k.a. Chester Hanks has clapped back at cultural appropriation claims after he drew the public's ire for his use of Caribbean accent. The son of Tom Hanks baffled people when he spoke in patois on the red carpet of the 2020 Golden Globe Awards in January and he continued to do so in his recent Instagram posts.
Apparently taking the heat from social media users, he then took to the photo-sharing platform to address the issue. In a clip shared late Tuesday, February 4 and titled "Chet Chat Vol. VI (Part 2): Cultural Appropriation", he challenged the definition of "stealing" one's culture.
After debating over what can be taken as an example of "white culture," he then talked about the culture surrounding snowboarding. "People are saying snowboarding is a terrible example because you can't compare a sport to people's hair," he said in the video. "That's true but if you're focusing on what I said about snowboarding as a sport, you're missing the point. I didn't mean it as a sport, I meant it as a reference for a community that surrounds it. The community that surrounds snowboarding is mainly white."
He went on explaining his point, "Anybody can snowboard...I'm not saying white people have a monopoly on snowboarding. I'm saying it's a reflection point for a community which is predominantly white. Because this is the other response I've been seeing is people saying, white people have no culture."
Chet, whose real name is Chester Marlon Hanks, continued by talking about the double standard of cultural appropriation. "If a white person gets into hip-hop and they start wearing braids and gold teeth, some people call that appropriation. But if a Black person puts on cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and gets into country music, there's nothing wrong with that," he said, before adding, "of course, there’s nothing with that."
"If you don't have a problem with a black person wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots and loving country music, then why do you have a problem with white people wearing braids and gold teeth and getting into hip-hop music?" he asked. "It's this whole idea of theft," he insisted, as he questioned, "Why are we so caught up on this idea of theft and stealing?"
Chet sparked mixed reactions after speaking in a Caribbean accent at the January 5 event. Many found his accent confusing, while CNN named his video the "most bizarre moment of the 2020 Golden Globes."
He didn't stop there, as he responded to the confusion with another video of him walking out of a store and sipping a drink before talking in the same accent.
On Tuesday, he returned with another video of him speaking in the same accent while holding a can of beer as his friends laughed it off. He wrote in the caption, "HOLD UP WAIT A MINUTE... YALL THOUGHT I WAS FINISHED?!?!???? (#MeekMill voice) U KNOW WTF GOIN ON... AND IF YOU DONT JUST ASK #GEAZY HE KNOW WAH A GWAN WIT DEM GYAL... AND TO ALL YOU LAMES STILL BITCHIN ABOUT APPROPRIATION PREE DIS... YALL CAN 'APPROPRIATE' DEEZ NUTZ LMAOOOO."
