On Wednesday night, actor Colin Hanks made an appearance at the world premiere of American Crime Story: Impeachment.
Hanks—who is the son of actor Tom Hanks–plays Associate Independent Counsel Mike Emmick in the FX limited series about the controversial events that nearly ended former President Bill Clinton's presidency.
On the red carpet, Variety's Marc Malkin discussed the show with Hanks but also inquired about his half-brother, Chet Hanks, who famously made anti-vax comments and downplayed the viral pathogen by comparing it to the "flu."
"But your brother recently talked about not wanting vaccines and how this is just like the flu," said Malkin of Chet Hanks. "How are you feeling about that?"
In response to his brother's statement, Colin Hanks responded to Malkin with:
"That's one person's opinion."
But what social media users fixated on most was the off-camera reporter's gruff voice, which many social media users thought sounded uncannily like the popular character "Grover," from Sesame Street.
You can watch the reference clip below and decide for yourself if you think Malkin was channeling the beloved blue monster in his interview.
Since the interview clip shared by Variety did not show Malkin, users had their suspicions about what he looked like.
Some liberties were taken.
Malkin took the Grover reference in stride and gave an affirmative response to a user asking if the personality interviewing Hanks was the popular Muppet.
Chet Hanks is the son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who were both hospitalized after contracting the viral pathogen while in Australia during the early stage of the pandemic last March.
Also known by his rap name "Chet Hanx," the Hollywood scion received backlash for posting a video seemingly encouraging everyone to get vaccinated to "get this [situation] under control," but then pivoting to a blistering rant against the vaccine.
"Pysch, b*tch," he yelled, adding:
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I never had [the virus]. Y'all ain't sticking me with that motherf'king needle."
"It's the motherf'king flu. Get over it, OK? If you're sick, stay inside. OK, why we working around y'all? If you're in danger, stay your ass inside. I'm tired of wearing a motherf'king mask."
People commented on the awkward position Colin Hanks was in when asked about his half-brother's vaccine hesitancy.
American Crime Story: Impeachment is about the first impeachment of a president in over a century and is told from the perspectives of three women, Monica Lewinsky (Beanie Feldstein), Linda Tripp (Sarah Paulson) and Paula Jones (Annaleigh Ashford).
The 10-episode third season of the anthology series starts Tuesday, September 7, on FX.
