Alumni at West Point’s US Military Academy abruptly canceled an upcoming award ceremony for actor and veterans advocate Tom Hanks – a long time backer of Democratic candidates and causes, who was roastedmthis year for his portrayal of a Presindet Trump supporter as a racist dope.
“This decision allows the Academy to continue its focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight, and win as officers in the world’s most lethal force, the United States Army,” read an email dispatched Friday by Retired Army Col. Mark Bieger to alumni, per The Washington Post.
Hanks was scheduled to be honored at the famed military institution on Sept. 25 with the Sylvanus Thayer Award, dedicated to recognizing an “outstanding citizen” who did not attend West Point, but still exemplifies the academy’s ideals of “Duty, Honor, Country.”
Alumni at West Point’s US Military Academy reportedly canceled an upcoming award ceremony for Tom Hanks. Adela Loconte/Shutterstock
The email did not state whether Hanks would still be receiving the award at a different time, or whether it had been revoked, the outlet reported.
The ceremony was to be accompanied by a parade held at West Point, attended by the entire Corps of Cadets. The Sylvanus Thayer Award is the closest equivalent to an honorary degree from West Point and is named after Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, who was superintendent of the school from 1817 to 1833.
Hanks, 69, has a history of making anti-Trump comments and a track record of donating thousands to Democrats, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
He’s also sent money to state Democratic parties across the country and sent cash to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and California Sen. Adam Schiff, donation records show.
The “Forrest Gump” actor infamously portrayed supporters of President Trump as a racist in a skit on the “Saturday Night Live” 50th anniversary special, in February, playing a character hesitant to shake a black man’s hand.
The alumni cited the need to return the academy’s core mission to be the world’s “most lethal force.” AP
“Thank you, my brother,” Hanks said, finally accepting to shake the black character’s hand, while playing a character donning a MAGA shirt on the parody game “Black Jeopardy.”
“Now maybe I’ll start a show for you to come on and we’ll call it white Jeopardy,” Hanks said in the skit.
Asked on CNN last year if he worried about the country’s “commitment to democracy and freedom” if Trump was reelected, Hanks said. “I think there’s always reason to be worried about the short term.”
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“But I look at the longer term of what happened I think there’s an ongoing — look, our Constitution says, ‘We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,’ — that journey to a more perfect union has missteps in it,” he continued.
In 2021 Hanks hosted Biden’s prime-time TV special.
“This day is about witnessing the permanence of our American ideal,” Hanks said during the Biden show, which commemorated the president’s inauguration.
And in 2022, the “Saving Private Ryan” actor narrated a video in 2022 of the Biden administration’s accomplishments in its first year, insisting the country is “stronger than we were a year ago today.”
Bieger’s email was sent the same day Trump renamed the Department of Defense the Department of War telling reporters that he thinks it “sends a message of victory.”
“It’s a very important change because it’s an attitude,” he said of the move away from the word “defense.”
The Department of War was originally renamed in 1947 after WWII to be the Department of Defense.
Hanks supports veterans through the Elizabeth Dole foundation, in which he uses his fame to bring attention to America’s 14.3 million military and veteran caregivers.
West Point and a spokesperson for Hanks did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Post, while the West Point Association of Graduates could not be reached for comment.
The White House also didn’t respond for comment.