Featured Image Credit: BACKGRID
Topics: Celebrity, US News, Social Media, Tom Hanks
Britt Jones
People have been left baffled after photos of Tom Hanks were released, showing him riding the subway.
When we think of the ways celebrities travel, it’s usually be limo, private jets or whatever other contraption the rich and famous have at their disposal.
But when Hanks, known as an iconic 90s film legend, was seen riding the train like you and me, people had a few things to say about it.
Hanks, who is best known for his roles in Forrest Gump, Splash, Turner & Hooch, and so many more, isn’t someone you’d expect to see on your morning commute.
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However, there he was.
Riding the subway in a medical mask, green jacket, beanie on his head, black jeans and boots, Hanks could have passed as any other person in New York on Tuesday (21 October).
Except, social media users have been left confused over two things.
People were perplexed when they realised that Hanks was the only person in the released images to be wearing a mask on his face - something many stopped doing once the Covid-19 restrictions had been lifted.
In the pictures posted online, people questioned why he was donning the protective gear.
One person said: “Why is he wearing a mask.”
Another wrote: “He wears a mask but touches everything on a NYSubway. Genius.”
Someone else said: “Why is he wearing a mask? Does he have some horrible disease that he doesn’t want to spread?”
Some wondered whether he's come down with a cold or is trying to protect his health.
But that’s not the only thing that had people up in arms over the candid shots.
To them, it all seemed a little bit too posed to be natural.
Pictures of Hanks, which include him sitting on a seat, standing and holding two bars, and leaning against one, seemed fishy to some social media users.
One person claimed: “This is clearly some sort of weird photo shoot.”
Another said: “I guarantee you this is a photo op…. So staged. That’s the cleanest most uncrowded New New York City subway I’ve seen in forever.”
Someone else shared: “Incognito with a photographer, makes sense…”
However, this isn’t the first time he’s been spotted on the rail.
The Golden Globe winner was pictured on the 6 line wearing a green Yankees cap on 7 October before then being snapped on a park bench, sipping a coffee.
He then headed to his off-Broadway play rehearsals, as per the pictures.
The play, This World of Tomorrow, which is due to start on 30 October at The Shed, and is based on his 2017 book Uncommon Type.
“To explore the themes of love and yearning, and the struggles of Today as we carry with us the eternal memories of the Past, in such a place as The Shed, strikes me as a one-of-a-kind experience not unlike the World’s Fair of 1939,” Hanks said in a statement, as per Playbill.
So, maybe you’ll see him on the train again as he travels back and forth.
Tyla has contacted a representative for Tom Hanks for a comment.