Somewhere in between “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and “the apple fell far from the tree” lives Chet Hanks, son of beloved Hollywood icon Tom Hanks. Chet sparked widespread criticism this week for declaring he won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine, and after a day of reflection, he said in a follow-up statement that he’s not changing his mind.
This despite, you know, the time his parents (Tom and Rita Wilson) became some of the first prominent people to get sick with COVID back in March 2020. Dang, son.
So on Tuesday, Chet posted a video on Instagram where he said in part, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I ain’t never had COVID. You ain’t stickin’ me with that motherf—— needle. It’s the motherf—— flu. Get over it, okay? If you’re sick, stay inside. Why we working around y’all? If you’re in danger, stay your ass inside. I’m tired of wearing a motherf—— mask.”
And on Wednesday he followed up with a new video, in which he said: “Just like you have the right to be mad at me ‘cause I said I’m not going to get the vaccine, I have the right to not get that s—. I wanted to, but my immune system said it’s good. It doesn’t want to be tampered with. It said it’s good, okay? Let’s be real. 99% of you motherf—— wouldn’t use a shampoo that’s not FDA approved. But you’re willing to get some experimental, government injection. There’s more evidence of UFOs being real than that vaccine being healthy for you.”
We’re not going to waste your time debunking any of that, but suffice to say almost everything in that statement is incorrect except the part about his having the right not to “get that s—.” Watch his full video here or below.
Last year, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson became practically THE reason everyone all over the world started taking coronavirus seriously at almost the same time, when the married actors announced March 11 that they’d contracted the illness. Several months later, after they recovered, the elder Hanks had this to say about people refusing to take steps to mitigate the spread of the illness via social distancing or mask wearing:
“Those things are so simple, so easy, if anybody cannot find it in themselves to practice those three very basic things – I just think shame on you. Don’t be a p—-, get on with it, do your part. It’s very basic. If you’re driving a car, you don’t go too fast, you use your turn signal and you avoid hitting pedestrians. My Lord, it’s common sense,” he said.
Rita Wilson said in April of this year that she and Tom intended to get the vaccines as soon as they were able to.