A phrase coined by Tom Hanks' rapper son has become a rallying cry for hate groups, despite Chet Hanks' assurance that "white boy summer" is actually all about "love." For many, "the phrase represents an unapologetic embrace of white heterosexual masculinity, often at the expense of women and people of color," per the New York Times, which takes an in-depth look at how the phrase has morphed. The slogan and the abbreviated "WBS," recently used by Hanks, have appeared thousands of times across Telegram this year.
Embraced by the Proud Boys, White Lives Matter, and neo-Nazi Active Clubs, it's "a powerful global call-to-action for far-right recruitment, protest, and violence," particularly against immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, according to a report published Tuesday by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. Chet Hanks, a white rapper, coined the phrase in 2021 following the success of Megan Thee Stallion's "Hot Girl Summer." He said he was "not talking about Trump, you know, NASCAR type white." The rapper said the phrase was instead meant to promote white male hip-hop and rap artists like himself.
In the wake of the GPAHE report, Hanks took to Instagram to explain himself again. "White boy summer was created to be fun, playful, and a celebration of fly white boys who love beautiful queens of every race," he wrote Wednesday, per NBC News. "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." "The fact remains that it has been co-opted by far-right extremists to promote hate and bigotry," GPAHE responded, adding it "emphasizes the need for those with powerful platforms to remain vigilant against irresponsible statements that can be used for tools of hate and division." (More Chet Hanks stories.)
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