‘This Is A Family Business’: Hollywood Legend Blows Off Criticisms About ‘Nepo Babies’

Legendary actor Tom Hanks stood up for “nepo babies” in a recent interview, arguing that it wasn’t nepotism so much as the fact that the Hollywood film industry, like any other industry, had the potential to be a “family business” of sorts.

Hanks made the comments during an interview with The Sun while promoting his latest film, “A Man Called Otto,” which features his son Truman playing a younger version of Hanks’ titular character.

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The actor has four children — son Colin and daughter Elizabeth from his first marriage to actress Samantha Lewes, and sons Chet and Truman with current wife, actress Rita Wilson. All four, he says, are involved in creative arts in some way.

“Look this is a family business. This is what we’ve been doing forever. It’s what all of our kids grew up in,” he said. “If we were a plumbing supply business or if we ran the florist shop down the street, the whole family would be putting in time at some point, even if it was just inventory at the end of the year.”

The Oscar-winning actor went on to argue that, just as in any other business, it was the quality of the work that would ultimately determine success in the field.

“The thing that doesn’t change no matter what happens, no matter what your last name is, is whether it works or not. That’s the issue anytime any of us go off and try to tell a fresh story or create something that has a beginning and a middle and an end. Doesn’t matter what our last names are. We have to do the work in order to make that a true and authentic experience for the audience,” he said. “That’s a much bigger task than worrying about whether anybody’s going to try to scathe us or not.”

Hanks’ comments align fairly closely with actress Kate Hudson’s assessment on the topic. Hudson was raised by her mother, actress Goldie Hawn, and stepfather Kurt Russell — and she said there was definitely a creative streak that ran through her family.

“It’s definitely in our blood. People can call it whatever they want, but it’s not going to change it,” she said. And at the end of the day, she argued that it all came down to who was willing to put in the work. “I don’t care where you come from, or what your relationship to the business is … if you work hard and you kill it.

‘Contemptible Liar’: Elon Musk Blasts Washington Post Reporter

After a Washington Post reporter characterized a leftist who had allegedly championed violence as someone “documenting racist and far-right attackers,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk fired back that the reporter was a “contemptible liar.”

Musk was responding to the Post’s article that was written by Joseph Menn, which stated that Chad Loder “was banned from Twitter by an order from owner Elon Musk, according to a former employee …” The Post-Millennial’s editor-at-large, Andy Ngo, blasted Menn, writing, “Why didn’t you mention in your WaPo reporting that Antifa member Chad Loder incited violence, including deadly violence? He also celebrated violent crimes when he praised Antifa ‘martyrs,’ including domestic terrorist Willem van Spronsen & gunman Michael Reinoehl.”

.@josephmenn, why didn't you mention in your WaPo reporting that Antifa member Chad Loder incited violence, including deadly violence? He also celebrated violent crimes when he praised Antifa "martyrs," including domestic terrorist Willem van Spronsen & gunman Michael Reinoehl. pic.twitter.com/CiRFLJzSis

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 5, 2023

“Joseph Menn is a contemptible liar,” Musk tweeted. “Twitter policy has always been to suspend accounts that clearly & repeatedly incite violence.”

Joseph Menn is a contemptible liar. Twitter policy has always been to suspend accounts that clearly & repeatedly incite violence.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 5, 2023

After Musk tweeted, Ngo commented further on Loder, writing, “One of the ways Antifa normalize themselves in the mainstream is through laundering influencers & their ideas through journalists. WaPo & Intercept present Chad Loder as a ‘researcher’ to mislead the public about his violent extremism & antisemitic views. @chadloder‘s violent extremism on Twitter included celebrations of Antifa violence against a man who protested the trans sex offender who allegedly exposed an erect penis at Wi Spa. He also celebrated violence on black people & routinely posted personal information of targets.

.@chadloder's violent extremism on Twitter included celebrations of Antifa violence against a man who protested the trans sex offender who allegedly exposed an erect penis at Wi Spa. He also celebrated violence on black people & routinely posted personal information of targets. pic.twitter.com/rmFF1KSXQb

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 6, 2023

Menn’s article revolved around former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko joining security company Rapid7, “the maintainer of Metasploit, an open-source hacking tool that adds new techniques within hours of their disclosure,” Menn noted, before adding “a co-founder of the company was Chad Loder, now an activist documenting racist and far-right attackers, including some who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.”

After Loder’s account was suspended from Twitter, he claimed that he was the victim of an “organized mass reporting campaign” against left-wing Twitter users from a group called Zanting. “There’s nobody minding the shop anymore,” he said. “I know everyone that worked on Twitter’s trust and safety team over the years has long gone and the team has been more than decimated. It’s maybe 5% of the original staff, so what’s happening is mass-reporting is allowed to succeed because there’s no one double checking whether these reports are valid or not. So people are being suspended for silly things or over nothing at all.”