Chet Hanks, the rapper son of Tom Hanks, has recently issued a statement regarding his song ‘White Boy Summer’, claiming that the meaning behind the song has been misconstrued by racists and bigots. The song was originally released three years ago and was inspired by Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Hot Girl Summer’ from 2019. Despite its intended tongue-in-cheek message, the song has been adopted by far-right groups around the world, such as the Proud Boys, as a piece of rhetoric that promotes white supremacy.
The Global Project Against Hate And Extremism shared a report earlier this week about the history of “white boy summer” and how it afforded itself to racist and sexist interpretations. In response to the allegations that his song has been used to bolster hate speech, Hanks posted a statement on Instagram: “White boy summer was created to be fun, playful, and a celebration of fly white boys who love beautiful queens of every race. Anything else that it has been twisted into to support any kind of hate or bigotry against any group of people is deplorable and I condemn it.”
Chet Hanks, who has been involved in the recent Drake and Kendrick Lamar rap feud, said that he hopes that people could treat each other with kindness and respect. Chet’s father, Tom Hanks, had previously asked his son over text message to explain the feud between the two rappers. Chet then responded with a lengthy message summarising the situation and suggesting that Kendrick Lamar had come out on top.
The feud between Kendrick and Drake had begun when Lamar responded to J. Cole and Drake’s ‘First Person Shooter’, where Cole called the trio “the big three”, to which Lamar responded, “Motherfuck the big three / N***, it’s just big me.” The back-and-forth continued with diss tracks such as Drake’s ‘Push Ups’ and ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’, which were followed by Lamar’s ‘Euphoria’ and ‘6:16 In LA’. Drake then responded with ‘Family Matters’ and Lamar with ‘Meet The Grahams’. The latest offerings are Kendrick’s ‘Not Like Us’ and Drake’s ‘The Heart, Part 6’.
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