Fact Check: Did Tom Hanks issue a statement after leaving the country post Trump's victory? Viral TikTok speech debunked
After Republican candidate Donald Trump's win in the 2024 presidential election, a rumor about actor Tom Hanks has been circulating across the internet. According to the rumor, Hanks had left the country and gone to an "undisclosed" location after Trump won the elections.
An X user (@MichaelSCollura) shared a tweet on November 8, about the Inferno actor. The tweet contained a statement that apparently was issued by Tom Hanks. It read:
"It is with a heavy heart and an even heavier suitcase that I announce: I have officially fled the country. Yes, you heard that right-I am currently writing this from a far-off, undisclosed location..."
According to the rumored statement, the 68-year-old actor further said:
"Why am I here, you ask? Let's just say that President Trump 2.0 was a bit more than I was ready for. When I saw the results, I thought, 'Run, Forrest, run!' and that's exactly what I did."
The tweet went viral and garnered more than 600k views and 300 reposts. While some believed the statement, others clarified that the rumor was untrue. Many even assumed that he had moved to Greece, since Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson became official residents of Greece in 2020, as per reports by BBC.
According to The Direct, the rumor was first circulated by a TikTok user (@mcbride692). While the actor had previously criticized Trump, there have been no credible sources to corroborate that he had left the United States. Thus, it could be concluded that the rumors about Tom Hanks aren't true.
Tom Hanks had reportedly never openly spoken about leaving the United States
Newsweek had reported a list of celebrities who had indicated their desire to leave the country if Trump won. While the list included a number of celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, and Cher, Hanks reportedly was never one of them.
He has, however, criticized the Republican candidate several times. In 2016, before Trump's first term, Hanks told BBC that it would be a "dark day for the planet Earth" if Trump won. He even called Trump a "self-involved gas bag" then. In June 2024, he weighed in after being asked about his response to Trump potentially winning the elections. In the interview with CNN, he said:
"I think there is always a reason to be worried about the short-term. But I look at the longer term of what happened… Our constitution says, 'We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union.'"
Tom Hanks was then asked if he was worried about the country's future. To this, the actor responded by saying that he had full faith in the country. He continued:
"I will always have faith that the United States of America and the western societies that have adopted, more or less, the same sort of democracy, cannot help but turn towards what is right."
Hanks, however, never reportedly mentioned about leaving the country. Thus, the rumor that went viral is not true and should be debunked.