Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson's son calls COVID-19 the 'flu' in a rant against vaccines and masks

• Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson's son Chet called COVID-19 the "flu" in an Instagram video.

• He also said in the video, shared on Monday, that he has no plans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

• "You ain't sticking me with that motherf-----g needle," Chet said.

• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson's son Chet ranted against the coronavirus vaccine and face masks in a social-media video despite both of his parents experiencing severe cases of the virus early in the pandemic.

In an Instagram video shared on Monday, Chet called COVID-19 "the flu" after initially pretending that he was informing followers he got the vaccine.

"With the amount of people that I know recently that have got COVID and with the numbers rising, I think it's important for me to say that I got the vaccine," Chet said in the first few seconds of the video.

However, his tone shifts within seconds as he yells "PSYCH" and declares that he didn't actually get the vaccine and doesn't intend to.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I never had COVID. You ain't sticking me with that motherf-----g needle," Chet said, adding that people should "get over" the coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 600,000 Americans.

He continued: "If you're sick, stay inside. I'm tired of working around y'all. If you're in danger, stay your a-- inside. I'm tired of wearing the motherf-----g mask."

Chet doubled-down later that same evening writing on his Instagram story, "The vaccine should be a choice not a requirement."

The COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective in protecting against death and serious illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Chet's parents both personally dealt with COVID-19's nastier effects

Hanks and Wilson tested positive for the coronavirus early in the pandemic.

At the time of the couple's diagnosis in March 2020, Hanks said in a Twitter statement that they "felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches." In a follow-up Twitter video, Chet said his famous parents were "fine" and thanked fans for sending their good wishes.

While Chet said in his social-media post that his parents were "not even that sick," Hanks told The Guardian in an interview in July 2020 that he'd "had crippling body aches" and Wilson "lost her sense of taste and smell," had "severe nausea," and "much higher fever than I did" when they were sick from the coronavirus. They were also quarantined in an Australian hospital for a period of time due to the illness.

Hanks previously told the Associated Press in July 2020 that he has "no respect" for people who refuse to wear masks during the pandemic.

Representatives for Hanks, Wilson, and Chet didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Chet has stirred controversy before

In January 2020, Chet shared an Instagram video of himself speaking in a Jamaican accent at the Golden Globes.

Social-media users reacted to the now-deleted viral video with a mix of amusement and disgust, with one entertainment journalist calling it "deeply disturbing and chaotic."

More recently, Chet invented the widely-panned "white boy summer" meme in March, which critics said was confusing and in poor taste.

Later in March, a Texas judge barred Chet from owning a handgun and granted an ex-girlfriend a restraining order against the rapper amid allegations he'd threatened to kill her and himself.

Chet's controversies reach as far back as 2015 when he defended his use of the n-word in an Instagram video, arguing that the racial slur "unifies the culture of hip-hop across all races."

Read the original article on Insider