Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson's son, Chet Hanks, has revealed his anti-vax stance in a heated rant on social media.
The 31-year-old son, whose parents were among the first celebrities to disclose their COVID-19 diagnosis last year, said in a new Instagram video that he refused to have the vaccine and believed that the virus was nothing but the flu.
In the beginning of the video, Chet appeared to endorse the COVID-19 vaccine.
"I've been kind of on the fence about this for a while, that's why I never spoke on it," he said from inside his car. "But with the amount of people that I know recently that have gotten COVID, and with the numbers rising, I think it's important for me to say like, I got the vaccine, I think everybody should."
Chet added that he felt it was "really important" that Americans do the right thing, and look out for one another in order to get the pandemic under control. He then changed his tone.
"PSYCH, b***h! If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I never had COVID. Ya ain't sticking me with that motherf**king needle," he said before insisting that COVID-19 was "the motherf**king flu."
"Get over it, OK? If you're sick, stay inside. OK, why we working around y'all? If you're in danger, stay your ass inside. I'm tired of wearing a motherf**king mask," he added.
Chet captioned the video, "SUPER IMPORTANT PSA GUYS LETS GET THRU THIS TOGETHER."
The "Shameless" actor also shared his views on his Instagram Stories, writing, "THE VACCINE SHOULD BE A CHOICE NOT A REQUIREMENT TO PERFORM OUR BASIC RIGHTS YEAH I SAID IT !!!!! BE AS MAD AS YOU WANT IDGAF !!!!," Yahoo! Entertainment reported.
In March 2020, Tom revealed that he and Rita had been diagnosed in Australia with COVID-19. Weeks later, he opened up about their difficult experience.
"Rita went through a tougher time than I did," Tom said during an appearance on the National Defense Radio Show, according to Fox News. "She had a much higher fever. She had lost her sense of taste and sense of smell. I had some bad body aches and was very fatigued, and that’s how the COVID-19 went through us."
Wilson also spoke of her symptoms that came while struggling with COVID-19.
"I was very tired. I felt extremely achy," she said. "Uncomfortable, didn't want to be touched and then the fever started. Chills like I've never had before. Looking back, I realize I was also losing my sense of taste and smell which I didn't realize at the time."
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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