In November 2024, Runet was flooded with publications: the actor was so dissatisfied with the results of the presidential elections in the country that he decided to leave the States, but soon returned. We have verified the accuracy of this story.
Even at the end of 2023 in the English-language segment of social networks got infected news that actor Tom Hanks has announced a potential departure from the United States if Donald Trump becomes president in the upcoming elections. Sometimes to be specifiedthat the actor will buy a one-way ticket to Canada (although since 2020 he has in addition to an American passport There is Greek). Similar messages for months spread on the web and recruited millions of views, but remained unnoticed on the RuNet for a long time. Some Russian-language resources wrote about the artist’s alleged statement only in November 2024. For example, the publication "Ukraine.ru" claimed that during Kamala Harris' election campaign, Hanks, along with other celebrities, publicly promised to leave the United States if Trump won. Recall that Harris put forward his candidacy only in July 2024, that is, several months after the artist’s alleged statements.
November 5 Trump won in the presidential elections, and on the evening of November 9 in Runet started news spread that Hanks had left the States after all. “It is with a heavy heart and an even heavier suitcase that I announce: I have officially left the country. President Trump 2.0 was not what I was prepared for. When I saw the results, I thought, "Run, Forrest, run!" And that’s exactly what I did,” the actor was quoted by the Telegram channel “Ax+"(1.9 million views at the time of writing this analysis). TV presenter Olesya Loseva (15,000 views) on her social networks she cited other words from the artist: “Yes, you heard right - now I’m writing this from a distant unknown place, from where there is a beautiful view of ... well, something that is definitely not America.” In some posts TBCthat this is an excerpt from a certain open letter from Hanks. “The actor urged fans not to think that he was leaving the United States forever, and made it clear that he could return after the end of Trump’s presidency,” the channel added.Heavenly"(119,000 views). Similar posts appeared in Telegram channels “VPS"(397,000 views), "Bad News 18+"(254,000), "Evil proof️"(229,000), "Observer" (213 00), "Newsach / Dvach"(195,000), Ateo Breaking (194,000), "Uncle Slava"(180,000), "Not Morgenstern" (131,000) and "ND – News of the day"(125,000). Numerous Russian and Ukrainian media outlets wrote about the actor’s departure, including “Komsomolskaya Pravda", "Arguments and facts", "Gazeta.ru", "Constantinople", Lenta.ru, "Pravda.ru", UNIAN, "Channel 5", RIAMO, "Evening Moscow", "Sport Express", as well as sections of Mail.ru "In Focus" And "Movie"(already deleted). They talked about this on Russian television and radio: for example, in the program “This morning"on the channel "Star", "Insulating tape"on Sputnik and "Time will show"on Channel One.
On the morning of November 11, reports appeared that Hanks had returned to his homeland just two days after leaving - the paparazzi allegedly spotted the artist at Los Angeles airport. “At the same time, a post appeared on Hanks’ personal page on social networks in which the actor urges journalists not to inflate sensations from words “spoken in a moment of deep despair,” and also added that “slamming the door is not in my rules,” the Telegram channel says.Sheikh Tamir"(130,000 views). In some publications TBC, that Hanks wrote about this on his personal Facebook page*. Similar posts appeared in Telegram channels “VPS"(411,000 views), Colonelcassad (281,000), "Rhymes and punches"(159,000), Zergulio (141,000), Voblya (141,000), "Not Morgenstern" (twice: 118,000 And 125,000), "ND – News of the day" (121,000) and "Bocharik (yep, that same one)"(107,000), as well as on VKontakte (here And here), X And LiveJournal. Among the media, the actor’s supposed return was reported “Komsomolskaya Pravda", "Russian newspaper", "Regnum", "Public news service", "Ukraine.ru", "Sight" And "Rambler / news", as well as in the program "International sawmill"on the NTV channel.
Is it true that he promised to leave?
As Hanks's alleged words received millions of views on English-language social media, these posts paid Attention Snopes project. Fact checkers analyzed a tweet posted by a user on December 24, 2023 @dustinemills24. His post, marked “urgent,” received 1.6 million views. However, in replays the author of the publication repeatedly wrotewhat the tweet is satirical character, which is why Snopes called reports of Hanks' words about leaving the United States "satirical news."
But “Verified” cannot agree with such a verdict. The fact is that in the comments under the post @dustinemills24 one of the users noted: “This is not breaking news. I've been seeing her for a few weeks now." We confirm these words: in social networks X first tweets about Hanks' alleged statement appeared no later than December 8, 2023. Moreover, the earliest fast, which “Verified” was able to track, is unavailable because it was posted by a now deleted account.
However, like our American colleagues, we also did not find any statements by Hanks about his possible departure from the United States if Trump wins the election. There are no such statements in any of the actor’s interviews, nor are they found in his verified accounts on social networks.
In recent years, the artist has spoken harshly about Republican politicians many times. For example, on the eve of the 2016 elections, in one of his interviews, Hanks publicly supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, called Trump a “narcissistic windbag” and when asked about his possible victory replied like this: “What will happen if he wins? Well, this will be a dark day for the planet." In June 2024, on CNN, the artist spoke about the future of the country after Trump’s potential second presidential term is more reserved:
“I think in the short term there is always cause for concern. But I'm looking at what's going on in the longer term... Look, our Constitution says, "We the people of the United States, to form a more perfect union..." And there are missteps along the way to a more perfect union, we know that. I can list as many of these mistakes as you can. And at the same time, you are a professional journalist, and I’m just a guy who acts in films and reads books.”
Hanks believes that over time his country is still changing for the better, and adds: “I will always believe that the United States of America and Western societies that have adopted more or less similar types of democracy cannot help but return to the right path.”
It should be noted that in the comments under false posts about Hanks’ departure from the United States if Trump wins in 2024, many users called the actor a pedophile and linked his alleged decision with leaks of documents on the rapper’s affairs P Diddy and financier Jeffrey Epstein. According to investigators, both organized sex parties with the participation of minors. Previously "Verified"and other fact-checking projects repeatedly refuted fabricated reports implicating Hanks in sexualized violence over children And human trafficking. For example, in January Reuters sorted it out fake CNN report that after Epstein's client list was published, the actor converted to Judaism and moved to Israel. According to journalists, Hanks' name never met in declassified documents, in which, among other things, featured Trump (the media clarify that the politician was mentioned without a single hint of inappropriate actions).
Is it true that he was leaving?
Most Russian-language media that published notes about Hanks' open letter about his departure from the United States referred to the pop culture resource The Direct. November 8 on this site is true came out material dedicated to the actor. “Tom Hanks left the country? New Rumors Explained,” reads the headline. The article even provided the full text of the letter that the artist allegedly addressed to his fans:
“Dear friends and fans.
It is with a heavy heart and an even heavier suitcase that I announce: I have officially left the country. Yes, you heard right, I am writing this from a distant and unknown place with a beautiful view of... well, something that is definitely not America.
Why am I here, you ask? Let's put it this way: President Trump 2.0 was not at all what I was prepared for. When I saw the results, I thought, “Run, Forrest, run!” - and that’s exactly what I did. Not to mention, the fear of ending up in federal prison had me running faster than an outcast chasing a volleyball.
Please don't think I'm leaving my beloved country - think of it as a very long vacation for political reasons. I'll be back...eventually. Maybe just in time for President Oprah (most likely, this refers to TV presenter and active supporter of the Democratic Party Oprah Winfrey - Ed.).
With love and hope...from somewhere, Tom Hanks."
However, apparently, the authors of the Russian-language media did not read The Direct’s article to the end, because they came to the following conclusion: “The rumors that he (Hanks. - Ed.) has left or will leave the country have no basis.” According to the publication, the mass dissemination of this information began with a video that was published on November 7, 2024 on TikTok by a profile with the username @celiina.t97 (at the time of writing this analysis, he changed his name to @kimberly_apjohn). There, the 26-second video received more than 205,000 views and was mostly an advertisement for a T-shirt, the print of which says: “Support the country you live in, or go to the country you support.” At the same time, at the beginning of the video, a screenshot of Hanks’ alleged letter appears, which he allegedly published on November 6.
“Verified” studied this TikTok account and found out that from the end of September 2024, its authors published there only content promoting clothes and hats in support of Trump. Previously for several months there posted videos not related to politics.
However, as Verified found, @celiina.t97 was not the first profile to post Hanks' alleged letter. The earliest post we could find appeared on TikTok the day before, November 6, on the user’s page @mcbride692 (almost 11 million views). Later his video (actually a picture with music overlaid) gained hundreds of thousands of views in X. Usually this author uploads videos with fake messages from stars and news about the deaths of celebrities, in the announcements of which he uses photos of other people. For example, @mcbride692 wrote that they died in 2024 Jackie Chan (with photo by Ken Jeong), Ian McKellen (Robert Englund) Vanya Morris (Idris Elba) and Peter Dinklage (Jason Momoa), but all of the artists listed are alive. Among the fake messages posted by the blogger to fans, one can highlight other statements about leaving the United States: for example, because of Trump’s victory in the elections, the singer allegedly left the country Cher, as well as actors Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro (and the latter allegedly went to Vietnam, and before that admitted in his HIV-positive status).
Let us add that in November 2024, Newsweek checked the authenticity of a large list of stars who allegedly announced emigration if Trump wins. Blogger Andrew Tate contributed to the distribution of this list. In addition to Hanks, Cher, Jackson and De Niro, it included, for example, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, George Clooney, Kim Kardashian and many others. However, Newsweek was unable to find relevant public statements from most of the celebrities mentioned. Among those who did say such things, many made their comments during the 2016 or 2020 elections, which also included Trump. In addition, some of the statements were taken out of context, and some artists later publicly retracted their words.
Is it true that he returned
As we have already established above, Hanks did not say that he would leave the States if Trump wins, and also did not announce his departure. Accordingly, in this case the actor could not return. But then why did this news spread online?
“Verified” did not find any messages from the paparazzi about Hanks’ return, as well as the above-mentioned posts on the actor’s social networks. So, the latest entries on his pages in X And Facebook dated May 2020. However, the artist is still active on Instagram*, but in the days following the presidential election, he published there is only a congratulations on Veterans Day on November 11th.
We found the earliest post with alleged Hanks quotes in the Telegram channel “and here is my Yandex wallet"(32,000 views), where the entry was posted on November 11 at 07:19 Moscow time. As our regular readers may remember, the entries in this blog are satirical in nature, and the channel description reads: “Parody, satire on political reality. Only verified fakes.”
Often the author of the channel “but my Yandex wallet” writes about how the media and other bloggers pass off his fictitious news as real. This happened this time too. That evening the blogger posted fragment of the program "60 minutes" TV channel "Russia 1". In it, presenter and State Duma deputy Evgeny Popov claims that Hanks emigrated from the United States only for appearances and headlines, and returned home a couple of days later. At the same time, part of what we mentioned is shown on air material The Direct. As mentioned above, in the text itself the author makes the following conclusion: there is no reason to believe that Hanks has left or will leave the country.
By the way, immediately after the story about Hanks, Popov spoke about a survey on the social network X, which was allegedly conducted by Trump and commented on Mel Gibson. "Verified" sorted it out and this story revealed that neither the newly elected US President nor the Hollywood actor wrote anything like that.
Let's add that funny stories related to fake news about Hanks' departure and return happened not only in the 60 Minutes program. For example, on November 11, on the air of the “Meeting Place” program on NTV, presenter Ivan Trushkin with reference to The Direct told about the actor’s fake farewell letter, without expressing doubts about the authenticity of the text. Four days later, on November 15, on the same show, host Andrei Norkin asked, is it true that Hanks returned two days later, to which Trushkin replied: “We wanted to give it in the news section. We checked: it seems to be fake.”
Thus, the whole story about Tom Hanks and his short emigration was made up by different people. The actor did not state that if Trump won, he would leave the United States, did not write on his social networks that he had already left the States, and, accordingly, did not return to his homeland two days later.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities and symbols are prohibited in Russia.
Cover photo: frame from the movie "Cast Away"
- Newsweek. Did This Huge List of Celebs Promise to Leave US if Trump Won?
- France 24. Did Beyoncé and Taylor Swift announce a 'red state boycott' after Trump's reelection?
- Is it true that Tom Hanks bought a Russian “loaf”?
- Is it true that Whoopi Goldberg joined the "sex blockade" of men because of Trump's election victory?
- Is it true that Mel Gibson called the Hollywood elite "pedophiles who drink the blood of babies"?
- The fictional world of Gek publics (VMGP)
If you find a spelling or grammatical error, please let us know by highlighting the error text and clicking Ctrl+Enter.
