Tom Hanks Says 'Shame On You' To People Who Don't Social Distance
You know we’re messing up when Tom Hanks gets mad at us
If anyone in Hollywood has the authority to speak on coronavirus matters, it would be Tom Hanks. He and his wife, Rita Wilson, contracted the virus way back in March while they were in Australia. They’ve since recovered and have returned to their home in LA, where they continue to self-isolate. Now, Hanks has a pretty simple message for all Americans as COVID-19 cases are massively surging in our country: Do your part.
“There’s really only three things we can do in order to get to tomorrow: Wear a mask, social distance, wash our hands,” Hanks said at a press conference this week, where he was promoting his new movie, Greyhound, which drops on Apple TV+ on July 10.
During the press event, Hanks was asked to describe the parallels between what the characters in the movie endure, and what we’re all going through in real life as we continue to navigate the pandemic. He got a little worked up, and for good reason — all it takes to cut down on virus transmissions is to show respect to others by wearing a mask and keeping distance from them, yet many Americans refuse to do even those basic things.
“Those things are so simple, so easy, if anybody cannot find it in themselves to practice those three very basic things – I just think shame on you,” Hanks said. “Don’t be a p—-, get on with it, do your part. It’s very basic. If you’re driving a car, you don’t go too fast, you use your turn signal and you avoid hitting pedestrians. My Lord, it’s common sense.”
It really is common sense. But some people think that being asked to care about others is an infringement on their personal rights (rights to be an asshole? That’s not in the Constitution, sorry). And so, here we are, facing nearly 50,000 new coronavirus cases each day in the U.S.
The only good news here is that Hanks also gave an update on how he and Wilson are doing post-COVID.
“Oh, as the canaries in the coal mine for the COVID-19 experience, we are fine,” he said. “We had about 10 days of very uncomfortable symptoms. Not life-threatening, we’re happy to say. We were isolated in order to keep an eye on ourselves because if our temperatures had spiked, if our lungs had filled, if any number of things had gone wrong with this, we would have needed expert medical care. We didn’t. I guess we were model recoverers from COVID-19, but we were also isolated so that we would not give it to anybody else that we came in contact with, and since then have been doing the same isolating, social distancing that is being asked of the world so, we are fine.”
He’s even donating plasma, which is likely to help with the convalescent plasma being used to treat COVID patients.
Guys, this really isn’t hard. Distance. Mask. Wash your hands. Don’t make Tom Hanks mad.
