# White Boy Summer White Boy Summer is a mock seasonal catchphrase launched by Chet Hanks, the rapper son of Tom Hanks, in a March 26th, 2021 Instagram video declaring the coming summer belonged to a specific style of white guy. The joke blew up overnight, with Twitter users countering his pitch with photos of David Lynch, Larry David and Glenn Howerton as mascots. By May 2024 Hanks was declaring another WBS, and a $WBS memecoin was trading alongside Hyperborea-tinged edits on X. ## Origin Chet Hanks uploaded the originating video to his Instagram account on March 26th, 2021, telling followers he had a feeling that the coming summer was about to be a White Boy Summer[4]. He drew a line between the kind of white he meant and the kind he did not, naming Jon B and Jack Harlow as reference points and explicitly ruling out Trump and NASCAR-type white[1]. The post gathered more than 330,000 views and 57,000 likes within three days, according to Know Your Meme's tally[2]. The clip left Instagram almost immediately. Twitter user @KaraBTweets reposted the video the same day, and that upload hit roughly 4.9 million views, 94,000 likes and 24,000 retweets inside three days[2]. Hanks followed with Instagram Stories spelling out rules and regulations, a sequel that Twitter user @neurotard mirrored to the platform where it drew 2.4 million views in under 24 hours[2]. PopBuzz framed the whole launch, including Hanks's e-commerce tie-in, as a bid to make White Boy Summer the counterpart to Hot Girl Summer[3]. - **Platform:** Instagram (origin) / Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** Chet Hanks - **Date:** 2021 ## Overview The joke works on two layers. Chet Hanks pitched White Boy Summer as a sincere call for a seasonal vibe, modeled on Megan Thee Stallion's Hot Girl Summer, but his delivery, including a Jamaican accent he had revived at the 2020 Golden Globes, read as self-parody to most viewers[1]. Audiences treated the phrase as a punchline rather than a movement, and the typical post took one of two forms, either mocking the suggestion that white men needed liberation or riffing on cliches of American white male fashion like plaid shirts, salmon shorts and boat shoes[2]. Follow-up posts gave the meme a rulebook to parody. On Instagram Stories, Hanks laid out specific regulations for his summer, banning plaid shirts because wearers would look like a picnic table, banning Sperry Top-Siders in favor of Vans or Chuck Taylors, and banning the word smokeshow as a descriptor for women[3]. Writers at The Cut noted that the fashion advice itself was not bad, but Hanks's history of controversies, including his repeated use of a racial slur, loaded the pitch with a different meaning than Hot Girl Summer carried[1]. Typical fan posts cast an unlikely celebrity as the real face of WBS. Users circulated photos of Larry David in a Revolutionary War costume, Glenn Howerton paired with Christina Hendricks on a vision board, and director David Lynch with Hanks's words pasted on as a chyron[4]. The pattern reframed the meme into a game of nominating alternative, often absurd, patron saints for the season. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is White Boy Summer? White Boy Summer is a mock seasonal catchphrase, started by rapper Chet Hanks in March 2021, that parallels Megan Thee Stallion's Hot Girl Summer but was mostly treated online as a punchline rather than a sincere movement[1]. ### Where did White Boy Summer come from? Chet Hanks launched the phrase in an Instagram video on March 26th, 2021, saying he felt the coming summer was going to be a White Boy Summer and naming Jon B and Jack Harlow as the vibe[4]. ### What does White Boy Summer mean? Hanks pitched it as a style guide for white men, with Instagram Stories banning plaid shirts, Sperry Top-Siders, salmon-colored clothing and calling women smokeshows[3]. ### How do you use White Boy Summer? People typically use the phrase to joke about white male fashion stereotypes or to nominate an unlikely celebrity, from David Lynch to Larry David, as a mascot for the season[7]. ### Is White Boy Summer still popular? Hanks revived the phrase on May 20th, 2024 with a new Instagram post, and a $WBS memecoin keeps the tag circulating in crypto corners of X[9]. ### Who is Chet Hanks? Chet Hanks is a rapper and the son of actor Tom Hanks, known for a Jamaican accent he debuted at the 2020 Golden Globes and for past controversies around his use of a racial slur[1]. ### Why did people mock White Boy Summer? Writers at The Cut and other outlets argued that white men did not need a liberation anthem like Hot Girl Summer, and Hanks's own baggage made the pitch feel threatening to many readers[1]. ### What were the official White Boy Summer rules? On Instagram Stories, Hanks banned plaid shirts, Sperry Top-Siders, anything salmon-colored and the word smokeshow, telling guys to wear plain black or white tees with Vans or Chuck Taylors[3]. ### Is there a White Boy Summer memecoin? A $WBS token began trading on April 19th, 2024 and sat near a $14 million market cap by late May 2024, promoted with Hyperborea-style edits on X[2]. ### How did Hot Girl Summer influence White Boy Summer? Hot Girl Summer, coined by Megan Thee Stallion in 2019, created the template of a seasonal vibe anthem, and Hanks explicitly pitched WBS as a male counterpart to it[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.thecut.com/2021/03/chet-hanks-predicts-a-white-boy-summer-ahead-which-no.html]() 2. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/white-boy-summer]() 3. [https://www.popbuzz.com/internet/viral/white-boy-summer-meme-rules-chet-hanks/]() 4. [https://x.com/i/status/1375612371180388356]() 5. [https://twitter.com/DylanTop5/status/1375962525481771021]() 6. [https://twitter.com/gaysex420/status/1376351385684488193]() 7. [https://twitter.com/jacob__posts/status/1376040527125168128]() 8. [https://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2021/03/28/chet-hanks-white-boy-summer-twitter-reactions.html]() 9. [https://www.instagram.com/p/C7My_Lzy6F2/?hl=en]() 10. [https://twitter.com/thuleluca/status/1790715985856471287]() 11. [https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/white-boy-summer-chet-hanks/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/white-boy-summer Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library