Tom Hanks should sue Elon Musk and an Arizona official for libel | Opinion
A member of the Avondale City Council embraced her inner QAnon and accused Tom Hanks of pedophilia.
Then came the payoff.
Elon Musk reposted her accusation to his 218 million followers.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
As my colleague EJ Montini observed, Hanks burrowed under the exceedingly thin skin of the MAGA Nation while reprising his 2016 role as “Doug the conservative voter” during the “Black Jeopardy” skit on Sunday’s “Saturday Night Live” 50th anniversary special.
Dressed in a denim shirt and rocking a red MAGA hat, Hanks affected a southern accent and somewhat reluctantly shook the hand of game show host Kenan Thompson, who is Black.
The MAGA crowd came unhinged … some more than others.
Avondale leader repeats a QAnon conspiracy
And in Arizona, Avondale Councilwoman Jeannette Garcia actually accused Hanks of engaging in sex with children — or at least fantasizing about it.
“Hey pedo .@Tom Hanks, Not all MAGA hat wearing patriots are white. In fact, most racism comes from the elite Democrats, you a** hole,” she raved on X, formerly Twitter.
Garcia was apparently referring to a QAnon conspiracy theory that Tom Hanks became a citizen of Greece during the pandemic and thus must be a pedophile. The theory is based upon a fantastical (and incorrect) claim that Greece classifies pedophilia as a disability.
Crazy, sure. But we’re talking QAnon. These are people who see Donald Trump as a messiah and Democrats as a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who sex-traffic children from the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor that has no basement.
After hurling her vile accusation into the public square that is social media — while rocking a cross around her neck, no less — the pride of Avondale immediately proclaimed her victimhood when she got pushback.
Elon Musk reposted it, so many will believe it
Garcia claims someone threatened to abduct her child and said she is now in fear for both her own and her son’s life.
If true, the police certainly should investigate.
But let’s not lose sight of the real victim here: Tom Hanks.
This public official accused him of being a pedophile. Then the accusation was amplified by Elon Musk, who passed it along to hundreds of millions of people.
Nobody will believe it, you say?
Well, with nothing more than a tweet, Musk convinced the MAGA Nation that Social Security is sending checks to hundreds of millions of 150-year-olds.
Really, is it a stretch that hundreds of millions of people will now absolutely believe that Tom Hanks craves sex with children?
Tom Hanks should sue Garcia for libel
By Thursday afternoon, Garcia was in full-blown backpedal mode.
“You know the word Pedo in Spanish means fart,” she said in reply to my column. “But thank you for bringing awareness to the second half of the post which is true.”
It took her five days to come up with that.
Here in the real world, it appears that an elected official in Avondale, Ariz., without a shred of evidence to back up her claim, defamed Hanks in one of the vilest ways possible because she was offended by a comedy skit.
And the second most powerful man in America made sure her accusation was heard far and wide.
Garcia was clearly thrilled that all of America saw her potentially libelous claim.
“Hey! That’s me,” she said on Monday, with emojis applauding Musk’s repost of her accusation. “Thank you @elonmusk for sharing and showing the world #MAGA.”
Mission accomplished, Councilwoman Garcia. You showed the world MAGA.
Tom Hanks should sue.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @laurieroberts.bsky.social.
Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tom Hanks should sue Elon Musk and an Arizona official for libel | Opinion
