Megyn Kelly led the charge in criticizing Tom Hanks for his participation in a controversial “Saturday Night Live” sketch in which he portrayed President Trump’s MAGA supporters as “worth-nothing racists.”
“Shame on him,” she said of Hanks during Tuesday’s episode of the SiriusXM podcast “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
The former Fox News host said that the Hanks skit during the show’s 50th anniversary special on Sunday was a betrayal of the very audience that helped make him a Hollywood icon.
4 Megyn Kelly took aim at Tom Hanks on Tuesday. YouTube / Megyn Kelly
4 Hanks’ portrayal of a Trump-supporting MAGA voter angered the presidents’ right-leaning backers. Chris Haston/NBC via Getty Images
“I’m sure Tom Hanks is worth a billion dollars,” Kelly said.
“And you know who got it for him? All of us… who went to see ‘Forrest Gump,’ ‘Big,’ and all the fun Tom Hanks movies and never once thought that he was judging them as stupid, rural, worth-nothing racists.”
Kelly added that Hanks had carefully avoided divisive roles throughout his career, making his turn on “SNL” all the more surprising.
“It was shocking to see somebody who tries so carefully not to be too divisive in his choices to come right out and suggest he thinks Trump supporters are racists. Shame on him.”
Hanks reprised his role as Doug, a MAGA-supporting character from the recurring “Black Jeopardy” skit.
Originally introduced in 2016, Doug was a caricature of a rural, Trump-voting American who found unexpected common ground with black contestants on the fictional game show.
This time, Hanks once again donned a red MAGA hat, an American flag T-shirt, and a thick Southern drawl as he interacted with host Darnell Hayes, played by Kenan Thompson.
The sketch featured Eddie Murphy, Tracy Morgan and Leslie Jones as contestants, before Hanks stepped in for Murphy and hesitated to shake hands with Thompson — before finally giving in.
The portrayal sparked immediate backlash, with many conservatives denouncing it as an outdated and offensive stereotype.
4 Hanks appeared in a sketch alongside Leslie Jones, Kenan Thompson and Tracy Morgan during the 50th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live. Theo Wargo/NBC via Getty Images
Journalist Matt Taibbi criticized the character as lazy and one-dimensional.
“This is an old trope in media and in comedy. It’s the urban sophisticate picking on the rural hayseed,” he said.
“But you have to be accurate… The caricature has to be true in some way, not just some stereotyped idea you picked up by not observing people in real life. It’s not funny because it’s just a stereotype.”
Author Walter Kirn, who was Kelly’s guest on the podcast echoed the sentiment.
4 Hanks and wife Rita Wilson pose in the the lobby of 30 Rockefeller Plaza on February 16, 2025. Getty Images
“I didn’t know that Tom Hanks would stoop to this kind of thing,” said Kirn, who wrote “Up in the Air,” which was turned into a movie starring George Clooney.
“It is terrible writing, it was a terrible skit, and he was the big loser. I see people all over social media saying, ‘I don’t think I’m going to be watching him again anytime soon.’”
The backlash extended beyond media critics, with Trump supporters accusing “SNL” of peddling divisive propaganda.
Former RFK Jr. aide Link Lauren called it a prime example of why the show’s ratings are in decline.
The Post has sought comment from Hanks and “SNL.”