Tom Hanks’ son Chet is, among other things, an aspiring MC who goes by the stage name Chet Haze (get it?). The 24-year-old also habitually uses the n-word on his Instagram — so prolifically, in fact, that it’s caught the attention of the media.
Chet decided to take to Instagram last night (June 1) to defend what he calls “FREE SPEECH.” (All caps all his.)
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“Look, I know the majority of y’all are not going to get this,” he says in the below Instagram video, “because the history is still so fresh in our country. But hip-hop isn’t about race — it’s about the culture you identify with.
“Can’t no one tell me what I can’t say,” the Northwestern grad continued.
In his considerably long caption, Hanks acknowledges that we “are still far from where we need to be and black people are still being literally KILLED by a RACIST and fucked up system.” Yet he insists that the racial slur no longer has “a negative connotation, if we so choose.
“Who is to say only black people can use it?” Hanks asked (unfortunately, rhetorically). “The way I see it, it’s a word that unifies the culture of HIP-HOP across ALL RACES, which is actually kind of a beautiful thing. It’s a word that can be used out of camaraderie and love, not just exclusively for black people.
“It’s time to let go,” said Hanks, who evidently has strong opinions about how to resolve society’s inequalities. “It’s got nothing to do with trying to be a thug,” he added with characteristic sensitivity, before quoting his father’s 1994 film Forrest Gump (and misusing the word pun): “And that’s all I have to say about that (no pun intended) lol.”
Billboard reached out to Tom Hanks’ reps for comment.