What Is White Boy Summer? A Growing List Of Rules, According To Chet Hanks

Over the weekend, Chet Hanks – current actor, former rapper, and 30-year-old son of actor Tom Hanks – debuted a concept called “White Boy Summer.”

On Friday night, Chet went viral when he said he felt that a “white boy summer” was coming.

So what exactly is a “white boy summer?” Is it bad? Like.. really bad? It sounds bad. Makes a person cringe when you hear it or say it. But it’s not bad! At least, it’s not yet. As a philosophy, it seems innocent and pure at the moment, albeit very goofy sounding.

So.. Is it good? Is it a “depends on who you ask” kind of thing?

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Like much of the Internet, I spent most of the weekend cackling about Chet Hanks waxing poetic on the concept. White Boy Summer, according to Chet, is not something toxic or political. It’s not a culture war platform.

I’m not talking about Trump, Nascar type white boy summer, I’m talking about me, Jon B, Jack Harlow type white boy summer.

Really, White Boy Summer was a weekend-long rant / bit about men’s fashion and ‘fits for summer 2021 – A diatribe on what’s cool vs. what’s whack.

I hate even calling it a bit because that implies it’s contrived or performative or insincere.

It’s completely sincere.

White Boy Summer has also evolved into a Tao. I’m calling it the Tao of Chet Hanks – Chet’s observations on the deep cultural divisions of the moment, along with some thoughtful – if not downright inspiring – universal principles about being a decent human being.

So.. What is “White Boy Summer”?

It’s a mystique that’s been meme-ified.

Which makes it hard to explain, let’s start with what it’s not.

It’s not politically motivated. It’s a concept Chet Hanks made up. It’s meant to be fun and celebrated without a heavy lean into personhood or identity.

Don’t read too far into it.

If you’re just catching up, you kinda have to be in on the joke at this point.

But who is Chet Hanks? As mentioned above, he’s Tom Hanks youngest son and quite the Internet legend around here, going viral about ten years ago while testing the waters on a rap career – stage name, Chet Haze – while attending Northwestern University.

https://twitter.com/priuscoven/status/1376162327540666371

There are many smug, ivory tower Chet haters out there who don’t get his energy. I get that. He’s a complicated onion if you aren’t familiar with the Chet Hanks internet canon.

On social media, Chet isn’t a comedian nor someone defined by his career in Hollywood or famous parents – just a funny human being trying to get through life like the rest of us. I’ve always considered the guy somewhat fam, as much as anyone who crosses orbit into the BroBible world is fam.

Here’s a dumb and obnoxious namedrop / brag on my part, in the interest of full disclosure. Don’t tweet me that it’s annoying, I know that it is. I hate myself for it.

We hung out in New York a couple times when he was promoting his rap career, back in the days when BroBible dabbled in being a music blog. I enjoyed our conversations, mostly about music and Internet culture of the moment. We smoked a blunt out of a window in our old office on a Friday night.

Since graduating from Northwestern, Chet’s lived a life balancing his acting career and personal growth like all of us millennials. He’s had some pretty notable appearances as an actor, if you weren’t paying attention: Project X, Fantastic Four, a wonderful role in Maron as a lovable goof in rehab that mirrors his own story about getting sober, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Shameless, Empire, and Your Honor.

In a world full of social media showboats and “stick-to-the-narrative” clout chasing, Chet is a truly unique character in culture that’s become so sterile and mayonnaise-y and, frankly, boring.

See – there’s such a dance around being a careerist on social media these days. The sense of fun and rowdiness from the platforms is long gone. Few dance the line of being charismatic and endearing while also being slightly unhinged, in a completely non-toxic, innocent way.

Chet, however, does. And he’s unabashedly owning it.

I think it’s nice to have a somewhat public figure like Chet just vibin’ with something to say for all the world to see.

White Boy Summer Rules

White Boy Summer comes with a unique set of “rules and regs” for proper swagger.

Really, Chet is pioneering a positive attitude-forward platform that trashes dusty cliches for Nantucket-types and focused on what’s chill. It’s the anti-frat, the anti-hive mind. It’s a lifestyle or vibe, if you will, that’s respectfully “on point.”

On Saturday, Chet started dictating the rules for a White Boy Summer. We captured some of them on Saturday night, but the list kept growing.

Here it goes:

-No plaid shirts,” because the bros “can’t be looking like a picnic table out here”

No plaid shirts, can’t be looking like a picnic table, just leave that shit at home, the Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren…just put on a black tee, white tee just keep it simple

-No Sperry top-siders

No Sperry-Topsiders, that’s not the type of white boys we’re talking about. Get yourself some Vans, some Chucks, and some Jordans.

-No calling girls ‘smokeshows’

No calling girls smokeshows, that term is played out dude, you can’t see a hot chick and call her a smoke, that’s over with.

-Anything salmon-colored … burn that shit.”

Anything salmon-colored in your wardrobe, burn it, burn that shit. Don’t’ ever wear it again.

-No cargo shorts 

-“Backwards hats are good”

“Someone put forth a proposition that we ban all backwards hats. I shut that shit down real quick. Backwards hats are, and will remain, good.”

-“Dad hats are iffy.” 

“What is very, very iffy, what I’m getting very close to banning is all Dad Hats; but, there are exceptions. If an individual has a clean fade, he may rock a Dad Hat, preferably backwards, because if you rock a Dad Hat forwards, you’re really starting to boarder on Not WBS.”

“If you want to rock a Dad Hat, do the work and find a good barber.”

-“Respect personal space at parties, especially while drunk”