We’re officially far enough into 2024 for those election-year shenanigans to start ramping up again.
It was only a matter of time before the same kind of unhinged behavior we saw last time around came full circle, but most people expected it to take until at least February for people to start melting down. Poor naive souls.
It took less than a month for the madness to begin, and it’s hitting a new high with weird and damaging rumors about one of the most popular actors in Hollywood. Tom Hanks is a beloved staple of American cinema, and he’s maintained — through #MeToo, the strikes, and yes, even Jeffrey Epstein — a shining reputation for decades, even as his similarly popular colleagues are exposed as creeps, jerks, and sometimes criminals.
Which makes it all the stranger that Republicans are now targeting the treasured actor. The right set its sights on Hanks in the wake of the New Hampshire primary, seemingly as a result of his clothing choice. Hanks has never been shy about sharing his political leanings, but it seems Republicans would prefer the 67-year-old keep his mouth shut. In the wake of yet another politically-charged T-shirt, supporters of the GOP are spreading a damaging rumor about Hanks, but one that’s thankfully easy to disprove.
What’s behind the new Republican push to label Tom Hanks a pedophile?
As the New Hampshire GOP primary wrapped, landing Republican frontrunner Donald Trump 12 delegates and his only remaining competition, Nikki Haley, nine delegates, Trump followers were looking for a fight. Perhaps riding high on their candidate’s victory, MAGA Republicans flocked to their new favorite social media site, Twitter X, to target one of Hollywood’s most decorated stars.
Any time a major celebrity trends, it’s typically due to a few potential factors. Either they have a new release on the way, they’ve done something wrong, or — worst case scenario — they’ve passed away. None of those were the culprit behind Hanks’ sudden surge on Twitter, however. That can be traced back to a strange effort to sully the actor’s good name.
An examination of the Tom Hanks hashtag reveals a sky-high number of baffling claims that Hanks is a pedophile. These assertions have absolutely no backing, other than false claims that he was listed among Epstein’s clients, but that’s not stopping their lightning-fast spread on social media. Now, any search for Hanks on Twitter will result in a wave of accusations, none of them true.
Just in case you need this answered: There is absolutely no proof that Tom Hanks is a pedophile, or that he was in any way involved with Jeffrey Epstein. The man’s biggest controversies revolve around nepotism and occasionally acting too mean to suit his “nice guy” image. That’s it.
The claims of pedophilia are nothing new, however. There’s pretty much no label out there as negative as pedophilia, and it seems Hanks detractors landed on the extremely upsetting claim a good few years back. They’ve been trying to “cancel” the star ever since, littering social media with gross inaccuracies about inappropriate relationships.
The most ironic thing about the accusations of Hanks’ links to Epstein revolves around the people who are making these claims. In one breath, they blast Hanks as a pedophile and lean on false narratives about his involvement with Epstein, and in the next they laud Trump — you know, the guy that actually was on the Epstein client list. The man was even photographed with Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, on several occasions, which makes it all the stranger that these people can support him in one breath and condemn supposed Epstein acquaintances in the next.
So there you have it. This almost certainly won’t be the last time rumors about Hanks’ supposed status as a pedophile will crop up, but at least we non-conspiracy theorists know the truth. Hanks loves to sport a good anti-Trump shirt, and isn’t always nice on set, but he’s far from a criminal.