Somehow, Tom Hanks’ problematic son Chet Hanks has landed a recurring role on Fox’s television series Empire. Chet, born Chester Hanks, will play the role of Blake, a "blue-collar rapper, a skilled MC, and lyricist."
Chet has had recurring roles on a handful of shows, including IFC’s Maron, Showtime’s Shameless, and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, and has had a guest-starring role on BET’s Tales. He’s had roles in a few movies as well, including Bratz, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Larry Crowne, and Project X.
In June 2015, Chet was openly using the n-word on a series of posts on Instagram. Chet later took to the Gram and posted a video, telling us when it’s appropriate to use the n-word, and ended up poorly defending himself. “And that's it! If you still want to be mad, be mad! That's your right. What people think about me is none of my business. But please don't act like you know my whole story either! We are all infinitely intelligent creatures on our own journeys. It's life. ALL LOVE ❤️,” he wrote in his caption.
In another since-deleted Instagram video, he tried to argue hip-hop isn’t about race, citing that because of free speech, he can say whatever he wants:
“If I say the word nigga I say it amongst people I love and who love me. If I say ‘fuck yall hatin ass niggaz’ it's because that's really how I felt at the time. And I don't accept society getting to decide what ANYBODY can or can't say. That's something we call FREE SPEECH. Now I understand the older generation who grew up in the Jim Crowe era might have strong feelings against this. And that's understandable... But what I'm saying is this is 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 fucked up system... 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 way I see it, 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. What's the point in putting all these built up ‘rules’ about it. It's time to let go. You can hate me or love me for it, but can't nobody tell me what I can or can't say. It's got nothing to do with trying to be a thug. It's about the culture of the music. And that's all I have to say about that (no pun intended) lol. It's all love. Some people will get it, some people won't. Either way, Ima keep living my life however the fuck I want. ALL LOVE.”
Haze revealed in December 2016 that he had a new daughter and was sober; a year prior he was in rehab for cocaine, crack, and alcohol abuse.
