Hanks labels ‘blackface’ video ‘hideously offensive’

LOS ANGELES: Tom Hanks responded to a controversial video showing the actor hosting a fundraising auction that featured a white man in blackface, labeling the incident “hideously offensive”.

Hanks acknowledged that he emceed the annual fundraising event for St Matthew’s Parish School, the Pacific Palisades school his children attended, but said the incident was regrettable.

“In 2004, I was blindsided when one of the parents got up on the stage in a costume that was hideously offensive then and is hideously offensive now,” Hanks said in a statement to Thewrap on Tuesday.

“What is usually a night of food and drink for a good cause was, regrettably, marred by an appalling few moments.

“The video came to light in a report on the Daily Caller.

Eagles member Glenn Frey co-hosted the event, but the man in blackface, was identified by the publication as investment banker James Montgomery, CEO of Montgomery & Company.

In the video he is outfitted in African tribal wear and is holding a stuffed gorilla.

At one point in the video, Hanks jokes, “Ladies and gentlemen, a celebrity in our midst. Who would have thought that Bill O’reilly would join us?”

Montgomery did not respond to requests for comment.

The fundraiser was reportedly centered on a Castaway theme – a reference to the 2000 hit film starring Hanks. — Reuters