Chet Hanks condemns hate groups that misuse his rap “White Boy Summer”

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Chet Hanks makes the matter clear: His song “White Boy Summer” has reportedly been used by more and more right-wing extremist groups for racist propaganda in recent months.

Three years after the musician – the son of Oscar-winning Tom Hanks and actress Rita Wilson – released his rap track, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism released findings that neo-Nazi organizations such as the Proud Boys, White Lives Matter and others have used “White Boy Summer” in recent months to “spread propaganda, recruit new members and support targeted hate campaigns including vandalism and hate incidents.” In the song, Chet raps in a Jamaican accent: “Rude Boy, it’s a white boy summer, bad gyal, white don dada.”

In response to the report, Chet took to Instagram to clearly distance himself from anyone using his music to promote racism. “White Boy Summer was created to be fun, playful and a celebration of cool white boys loving beautiful queens of every race,” he wrote on Wednesday (July 3), a day after the study was released. “Anything else it has been twisted into to support any kind of hate or bigotry against any group of people is deplorable and I condemn it.”

“I hope we can all spread love to one another and treat one another with kindness and dignity,” he added.

GPAHE has now updated its article with Chet’s statement, but warns: “The fact is that (the song) has been misused by right-wing extremists to incite hatred and bigotry. This underscores the deep social responsibility… for those with powerful platforms to remain vigilant against irresponsible statements that can be misused as tools of hatred and division.”

Although extremist interpretations of the song seem to have reached a new peak this year, Chet’s recent post is not the first time he has felt the need to clarify his intentions behind “White Boy Summer.” “I’m not talking about Trump, the white NASCAR guy,” he said in a video he posted a few weeks before the song’s release. “I’m talking about, you know, me, Jon B, the white Jack Harlow-type Boy Summer.”

However, this did not stop other groups from adopting the song in the months following its release, as similar reports from the time attest.

The GPAHE report and Chet’s response come a few months after the latter made headlines for a much more benign reason; in May, his famous father texted him to ask for an explanation for Drake’s heated rap battle with Kendrick Lamar, which the younger Hanks posted screenshots of online. “Holy cow!” said the Forrest Gump Star texted his son after Chet enlightened him. “These are declarations of war. People are taking sides?? Who’s winning??”

See Chet’s contribution to “White Boy Summer” below.