Tom Hanks knows firsthand what it’s like to to be infected with COVID-19, and now the actor has a blunt message for anyone not taking the global pandemic seriously.
After previously telling those that refuse to wear masks to stop “being a pussy”, the acting legend has once again spoken out on the importance of taking basic precautions amid the outbreak, saying he has “no respect” for people that refuse to wear masks.
“I don’t get it. I simply do not get it. It is literally the least you can do,” the 63-year-old told Associated Press in a video call interview to promote his new film, Greyhound.
“If anybody wants to build up an argument about doing the least they can do, I wouldn’t trust them with a driver’s licence. I mean, when you drive a car, you’ve got to obey speed limits, you’ve got to use your turn signals, you’ve got to avoid hitting pedestrians. If you can’t do those three things, you shouldn’t be driving a car,” he said.
Hanks added, “If you can’t wear a mask and wash your hands and social distance, I’ve got no respect for you, man. I don’t buy your argument.”
Tom Hanks his wife Rita Wilson, 63, were among some of the first famous public figures to test positive for COVID-19 while filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic movie in Australia in early March.
Hanks said that he and his wife both suffered from symptoms that lasted about two weeks during an interview with The Guardian on Monday. He noted, however, that despite both suffering the virus, their symptoms were very different.
“We had very different reactions, and that was odd. My wife lost her sense of taste and smell, she had severe nausea, she had a much higher fever than I did. I just had crippling body aches, I was very fatigued all the time and I couldn’t concentrate on anything for more than about 12 minutes,” he said.
“That last bit is kinda like my natural state anyway,” he added.
