Tom Hanks: Military Academy canceled honor – because of Trump?

Actually, the large train station for Tom Hanks should be made in two weeks. The Hollywood star was to be honored at the US military academy in West Point. A ceremony and a parade were planned for this. But neither will take place, the event has been canceled, reports the “Washington Post”.

The newspaper refers to an email from the President of the Alumni Association, which originally wanted to award the award. “This decision enables the academy to continue to concentrate on its core task: the training of cadets for leading, fighting and winning as officers in the fatal force in the world, the US army,” it says. To what extent the honor for Hanks stood in the way of this is not clear.

Tom Hanks should be awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award. This award is awarded “outstanding citizens” who are not graduates of the academy, but nevertheless embody their values ​​in a special way. So far, the prize has been awarded primarily to government members and other politicians, last year to Barack Obama.

In June, the association announced that Hanks should be awarded to his portrayal of US soldiers in films such as “The Soldier James Ryan” or “Forrest Gump”. In the justification, his merits were recognized for “the positive representation of the US military members, the care for American veterans, their supervisors and families and the American space program”.

It remains unclear whether the honor is only postponed or completely withdrawn. It has long been speculated that Hank’s relationship with Donald Trump could be the real reason of cancellation. In the past, the 69-year-old made no secret of the Democrats-and also not from his rejection of Trump. Hanks appeared in 2012 as a spokesman in a campaign video by Barack Obama, later the actor and the president were even spotted together on vacation. Obama awarded Hanks 2016 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Before the presidential election last year, he announced that he wanted to vote for Trump’s competitor Joe Biden. The Hollywood star also supported the Democratic Party with donations in the election campaign. In the program “Saturday Night Live”, Hanks represented a racist Trump supporter both in the first and during the second term of Trump.

Donald Trump is known for his intention to prepare his political opponent as a president. In the military in particular, Trump implemented some profound changes during his second term. So shortly after the election, he ordered the withdrawal of programs to promote diversity, justice and inclusion. This also affected the West Point Military Academy.

Sources: ,,