Former White Press Secretary Sean Spicer recently criticized Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks after the The Post star took a shot at U.S. President Donald Trump in a recent interview.
Hanks was being interviewed for his latest film, The Post, when he told reporters that he does not plan to attend a White House screening for the said movie. The movie star continued to say that the gesture would be an expression of protest for the incumbent American president, via the Washington Examiner.
Hanks also said that he is personally inclined to take a stand in opposition to the president’s recent statements, mentioning neo-Nazis rallying in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Trump’s racial taunt talking about Pocahontas.
Hanks then said that “we (American people) have to decide when we take to the ramparts” and that the people should begin to vote even “before the election,” so his vote was “not to go.”
Spicer, also a former two-time White House Communications Director for President Trump, seemed to have taken offense in Hanks’ comments.
The Republican political aide, who resigned from the position back in July, told a Fox Business Network reporter on Thursday that saying things like that to the United States President is a “sad commentary” on the current state of the country.
Spicer also said that the thought it has “become cool” to tell the public that a person does not want to meet with the president, no matter how unpopular he is, sends out a negative vibe for the country as a whole.
Spicer specifically mentioned Hanks, saying that the iconic actor should be leading and encouraging Americans to “talk to the president” about key issues tackled in The Post, rather than passing up the opportunity.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham also disapproved Hanks’ comments. She said that “one of America’s favorite actors is insulting the president” for the sake of promoting the movie, and that should not be the case for public figures.
Ingraham, who hosts “The Ingraham Angle” talk show, went on to say that Hanks should be “cast away,” alluding to the actor’s 2000 hit movie of the same name.
Hanks plays the role of the late Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in the movie. The movie was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, while writers Josh Singer and Liz Hannah wrote the screenplay.
The Post, set in the 1970s, was about the then unprecedented conflict between the government and the media with regard to publishing what was called the Pentagon Papers. The study, which caused a lot of controversy at that time, talked about the United States’ military and political involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945 to 1967.
The film also stars veteran Hollywood actress Meryl Streep as Kay Graham, the country’s first female newspaper publisher, Sarah Paulson as Ben’s wife Tony Bradley, and Matthew Rhys as Pentagon Papers creator Daniel Ellsberg.
The Post premiered on December 14 at the Newseum in the country’s capital and is scheduled for a limited release in the U.S. on December 22 before a full release on January 12 next year.
