Why Was Tom Hanks' Son Chet Speaking Patois at the Golden Globe Awards?

A video was captured on the red carpet at the star-studded affair of the actor speaking with a Jamaican accent.

Tom Hanks’ son Chet is receiving an overflow of social media comments after a video of him speaking Patois at the Golden Globe Awards surfaced online yesterday night. 

In the clip which he also posted on his personal Instagram, the actor and former rapper spoke with a fake Jamaican accent and also used a number of hand gestures. He was attending the awards ceremony to show support for his Oscar-winning father who took home the Cecile B. Demille lifetime achievement award yesterday. His siblings Truman, Elizabeth, Colin and his mother Rita Wilson also were present at the event to celebrate the award. 

One Twitter user, @shharine tweeted “lmao, why is Patois always the go-to language to make fun of? Like, who is this supposed to be endearing to?” in response to the video. 

Back in 2015, Hanks defended the use of the n-word in his music and on social media. The Los Angeles Times reports he believes that the n-word “unifies the culture of hip-hop across all races.” He also shared, “I do say the n word in real life amongst my black friends who get me and can’t nobody tell me I can’t say what the [expletive] I feel like no disrespect to the struggle of black ppl during the civil rights movement but it’s 2015 now.”

In 2018, Chet publicly shared that his past inflammatory comments were due to drugs and trolling, according to Fox News. During an interview on Van Lathan's "Red Pill" podcast he said that he felt comfortable saying the slur because he was on a lot of drugs. He also said, "I wanted to be, like, down, you know what I mean? I just felt like I wasn’t enough." During another moment on the episode he shared, " Low-key, like subconsciously, looking back on it now I realize I was trolling. I thought, like, crazy antics and just wilding the f—k out and doing some crazy s—t was going to like spark my career."

CNN reports that just last year Chet shared that he views having Tom Hanks as a father as a blessing and a curse. Hanks has starred in Fantastic Four, Project X, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and most recently FOX’s Empire.