Tom Hanks' son brushes off cultural appropriation claims after speaking Jamaican patois at the Golden Globes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tom Hanks’ son Chet is brushing off criticism after releasing a video of himself speaking Jamaican patois on the red carpet of the Golden Globe Awards.
Chet, an actor and musician who goes by the stage name Chet Haze, attended the awards show with his family to see his famous dad accept the Cecil B. DeMille Award. On the big night, Chet, 29, took to Instagram to share a video of himself hyping up his dad in patois, an English-based creole language with some West African influences.
“BIG UP FIMI WHOL FAMILY SOON COM AT DI AWARDS NA SEEN,” he captioned the video. “CHUNE IN.”
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In the brief red carpet clip he speaks with a thick accent and tells people to watch for his dad’s big moment. Although his mother, Rita Wilson, commented that it was “maybe the best laugh of the night,” others weren’t so sure. Many who saw the video called him out for cultural appropriation of an accent typically used by Jamaican people.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tom Hanks is pictured with his son, Chet, in 2012. (Getty)
The video quickly went viral, prompting Chet to respond on Instagram that he found the whole backlash somewhat ridiculous. He shared a screenshot of a headline reporting on the video with a caption mocking the attention it was getting.
“Average citizens: damn this is scary I can’t believe we’re on the verge of WW3 let me check the news smh,” he wrote.
On Monday he posted another video of himself leaving a juice bar where he commented on the backlash further by speaking in the patois dialect once again.
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“RESPECT TO MI #ISLAND MASSIVE 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲 RRRRRRRHHHHHHHHH,” he captioned the second video.
This isn’t the first time that the rapper, who has a history of addiction, has been been under fire. In 2015 he defended his frequent use of the N-word on his Instagram in a since-deleted video post.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Look, I know the majority of y'all are not going to get this,” he said at the time (via Billboard). “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.”
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However, after getting sober, Chet revealed on Van Lathan’s “The Red Pill” podcast in 2018 that he was on a lot of drugs at the time of the N-word controversy. He confessed that he believed his outlandish remarks could help his career, which he admitted at the time was misguided.