Alumni at West Point’s U.S. Military Academy abruptly canceled an upcoming award ceremony for actor and veterans advocate Tom Hanks — one of President Biden’s most outspoken celebrity supporters, who previously remarked that a second Trump term would signal missteps in America’s “journey to a more perfect union.”
“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,” wrote Retired Army Col. Mark Bieger in an email to alumni Friday, according to The Washington Post.
Hanks had been slated to receive the Sylvanus Thayer Award on September 25. The award honors an “outstanding citizen” who did not attend West Point but exemplifies the academy’s ideals of “Duty, Honor, Country.”
West Point alumni reportedly canceled Tom Hanks’ upcoming award ceremony.
The alumni cited the need to refocus the academy on its core mission of preparing the world’s most lethal military force.
The email did not indicate whether Hanks would still receive the award at a later date or if it had been revoked, the outlet reported.
Hanks, 69, is known for his outspoken criticism of former President Trump and has a history of donating thousands to Democratic figures, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
Donation records also show he has contributed to state Democratic parties nationwide and given funds to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and California Sen. Adam Schiff.
The “Forrest Gump” actor drew attention for a February “Saturday Night Live” skit in which he portrayed a supporter of former President Trump as hesitant to shake a Black man’s hand.
“Thank you, my brother,” Hanks said, finally shaking the Black character’s hand while wearing a MAGA shirt on the parody game show segment “Black Jeopardy.”
“Now maybe I’ll start a show for you to come on, and we’ll call it White Jeopardy,” he added in the skit.
Last year, Hanks told CNN he worried about the country’s “commitment to democracy and freedom” if Trump were reelected. “I think there’s always reason to be worried about the short term,” he said.
“But I look at the longer term…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 President Biden’s prime-time inauguration special. “This day is about witnessing the permanence of our American ideal,” he said during the broadcast.
The following year, Hanks narrated a video highlighting the Biden administration’s accomplishments in its first year, asserting that the country is “stronger than we were a year ago today.”
Bieger’s email was sent the same day former President Trump announced he was renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War, telling reporters that the change “sends a message of victory.”
“It’s a very important change because it’s an attitude,” he added, explaining his move away from the word “defense.”
The Department of War was originally renamed the Department of Defense in 1947, following World War II.
West Point and a spokesperson for Tom Hanks did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Post, and the West Point Association of Graduates could not be reached for comment.
The White House also declined to comment.
