American singer-actor Chet Hanks started using the phrase “white boy summer” in a series of posts on social media in 2021. NEW YORK – In the spring of 2021, American singer-actor Chet Hanks, the son of Hollywood star Tom Hanks, posted a series of statements and a music video with a refrain that caused confusion, not to mention a fair bit of cringing. He declared it was going to be a “white boy summer”.
Whatever he meant at the time, the phrase has since mutated into a slogan for white supremacists and other hate, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, an organisation that tracks the spread of racism. Thousands of posts using the slogan “white boy summer” have appeared on the Telegram app in 2024. It has been used by far-right groups to recruit new followers, organise protests and encourage violence, especially against immigrants and LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) people, the report said.
For many of those who use it now, the phrase represents an unapologetic embrace of white heterosexual masculinity, often at the expense of women and people of colour. Increasingly, the meme has moved from the fringes of the internet into the political mainstream around the world, said Ms Wendy Via, one of the group’s founders. Podcaster Jack Posobiec, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has linked to white supremacists, waved a banner with the words “white boy summer” on it at a gathering for Tu.
