Chet Hanks' Patois cultural appropriation controversy explained as actor claims he's never 'truly done anything offensive' 

Tom Hanks' son Chet Hanks finds himself tangled in controversy yet again, and it's starting to seem like a pattern for the actor. Fresh off Season 3 of Atlanta, in which he sported a bizarre Trinidadian accent, Hanks was grilled by Ziwe Fumudoh on her talk show regarding his repeated use of the Jamaican dialect Patois.

The rapper drew the ire of the internet when he spoke in Patois at the 2020 Golden Globes. While people criticized him legitimately because of his cultural appropriation, Chet Hanks didn't take kindly to the comments. He addressed them in the caption of an Instagram post, once again speaking in the Jamaican language:

"To all you lames still b*tchin about appropriation pree dis...yall can 'appropriate' deez n*tz."

---

Chet Hanks refuses to apologize for cultural appropriation

While interviewing Chet Hanks, the former Desus & Mero writer Ziwe Fumudoh did not shy away from asking uncomfortable but pertinent questions. She asked:

"Are there any marginalized communities you want to apologize to? I don't know, maybe the Patois community?"

After a comically long pause, Chet Hanks replied eloquently, "Nah." He added:

"I don't feel like I've truly done anything offensive. So I don't."

He nodded along to Ziwe repeating his past explanation that he didn't "see it as cultural appropriation," but rather a "celebration of culture." He then concurred with Ziwe's next comment, saying:

"Yeah, yeah...yeah!...No, I one hundred percent agree. Social justice warriers can kick rocks."

---

How does Chet Hanks explain his views?

Chet Hank's 'White Boy Summer' speeches have often drawn flak from politically correct netizens. In an almost five-minute long video, Hanks explained his stance on why he didn't consider speaking Patois as 'cultural appropriation.'

He originally likened his controversial Patois accent to black people snowboarding, implying that snowboarding was predominantly a white-people sport. However, he backpedaled on the comparison when it didn't get his point across correctly.

"People are saying snowboarding is a terrible example because you can’t compare a sport to people’s hair. If you’re focusing on what I said about snowboarding as a sport, you’re missing the point. I didn’t mean it as a sport, I meant it as a reference for a community that surrounds it. The community that surrounds snowboarding is mainly white."

He continued:

"The other response I’ve been seeing is people saying, white people have no culture. That to me is confusing because just look at all the different varieties of European cultures...Second of all, let's assume that's true, let's assume white people have no culture, but if they did have a culture, what would that be like? I imagine that to be like snowboarding."

Chet Hanks criticized the double standard of people not batting an eye when black people "[wear] cowboy hats and cowboy boots and [love] country music," but labeling white people "wearing braids, gold teeth, and getting into hip-hop music" as appropriation.

His closing remarks questioned the whole ordeal of labeling what he deems as borrowing from cultures as "theft and stealing," saying:

"It's this whole idea of theft. Why are we so caught up on this idea of theft and stealing? Isn’t it just as easy to look at it from the other perspective, which is just people like what they like, they love what they love, and nobody should have a problem with that. Why are we so quick to be angry and tense over the blurring of racial communities, instead of just being welcoming towards it?"

Chet Hanks' latest interview may fan the fire amongst netizens yet again.