Tom Hanks' son, an aspiring rapper who goes by the name Chet Haze, is once again in the spotlight following a racial slur he committed in social media, according to USA Today.
In a photo posted in his Instagram account, which has been deactivated since the issue broke out, Chet referred to his companion as "my nigga" while promoting a new song, titled "Juice." Within hours following his post, the son of Hanks and Rita Wilson became the center of media scrutiny both online and offline as people began to call him out for his racist label. The new single, now uploaded in Sound Cloud, features the two men collaborating.
Meanwhile, TMZ obtained the Instagram video of Chet's response to the said issue. At the moment, the said video is no longer available in all of the rapper's social media accounts. He said, as transcribed by Washington Post, "If I say the word n-- I say it amongst people I love and who love me. If I say "f- yall hatin a- n--" it's because that's really how I felt at the time," Chet added, "And I don't accept society getting to decide what ANYBODY can or can't say. That's something we call FREE SPEECH."
Hanks' son then went on to say that while saying the offensive term may have been understandably banned by the "older generation who grew up in the Jim Crowe era," he reiterated that times have changed since then. He reminded everyone that it is already 2015, and "even tho we are still far from where we need to be and black people are still being literally KILLED by a RACIST and f-- up system."
Chet continued, "We have also reached a point where the word can no longer have a negative connotation if we so choose. And who is to say only black people can use it?" The rapper explained that from his perspective, the said racial slur can actually be perceived as a "beautiful thing."
"The way I see, it's a word that unifies the culture of HIP-HOP across ALL RACES, which is actually kind of a beautiful thing. It's a word that can be used out of camaraderie and love, not just exclusively for black people," he elucidated. He then asked the reason for the "built up rules" regarding the matter. "It's time to let go," he urged the viewers. Reasserting his conviction that he does not care of people's opinion of him, Chet said that he stands by his beliefs.
