Tom Hanks' Son Explains Why He Can Use N-Word

Over the weekend, Tom Hanks' son used the n-word. Twice. Today he helpfully explained why no one should be upset about that. Gawker, not surprisingly, was quick to report both incidents (and to point out that Chester Hanks, or "Chet Haze," as the self-styled rapper goes by, is in fact white). The rundown:

• On Sunday, Chet posted a photo of himself to Instagram with a caption that said, among other things, "f--- yall hating ass [n-word] I'll never stop chasing my dream." The day prior to that, he had posted a photo of himself and a friend—or, as he called it, "me and my [n-word]."

• Controversy ensued. (Sample headlines: "We Need to Talk About Chet," "Chet Haze, Pretend Rapper, Is Now Spouting the N-Word on Instagram," and "Chet Haze Drops N-Bombs on Instagram, Continues to Suck.")
• This morning, Haze posted another photo of himself to Instagram along with his explanation. It starts: "If I say the word [n-word] I say it amongst people I love and who love me." He goes on to explain the Constitution: "I don't accept society getting to decide what ANYBODY can or can't say. That's something we call FREE SPEECH." The history lesson continues: "Now I understand the older generation who grew up in the Jim Crowe era might have strong feelings against this." But, as he explains, it's 2015 now and the n-word is "a word that unifies the culture of HIP-HOP across ALL RACES, which is actually kind of a beautiful thing."

(More Tom Hanks stories.)