Has Tom Hanks been arrested for pedophilia? No, that’s not true: Hanks, who was being treated after getting the new coronavirus, was not arrested for pedophilia and detained in a hotel room in Australia as claimed as part of the QAnon conspiracy theory that Hanks and others are pedophiles or financial criminals rounded up for alleged roles in international trafficking in children for sexual purposes or plans to dominate the world ..
The complaint appeared in the form of an article (archived here) published on Facebook by Juha Sawkat on March 15, 2020, under the title “Please read and start to open your eyes”. This opened:
Tom Hanks was arrested 48 hours ago for pedophilia and is currently detained in a hotel room in Australia refusing to return to the United States. The next celebrity arrests will be Céline Dion, Madonna, Charles Barkley, Kevin Spacey – all of them will demand Corona virus infections. “
Social media users have seen this:
This story is not true.
Hanks was diagnosed with a coronavirus while filming in Australia. He and his wife, Rita Wilson, were hospitalized for five days. They were then released and got back together. He was never arrested for pedophilia.
Shawkat also posted a screenshot of the alleged reports with the message:
Please read and start opening your eyes. Brittany Irons thanks for sharing. I know all of these distractions all too well. At least now we see the details. “
The screenshot of the message from Facebook user Daniel Robert Dowell does not appear to exist on Facebook.
As the story went viral, Tom Hanks posted on his Instagram account about his quarantine on March 17, 2020, two days after his arrest was posted on Facebook.
The QAnon group appears to have started the false story and included both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and television magnate Oprah Winfrey in the plot.
The Washington Post denounced the story on March 18, 2020, calling it “an disturbed conspiracy theory,” after Winfrey’s name started making its way on Twitter in connection with an alleged arrest.
Late Tuesday evening, as the results of the Democratic primary elections spread and the number of people infected with the new coronavirus continued to increase, the name of Oprah Winfrey began to make its way on Twitter.
A disturbing conspiracy theory had taken hold, claiming that she had been arrested for her role in a global network of sex trafficking. He reached a point where Winfrey felt compelled to respond to rumors, which quickly spread over the Internet when people were bored and trapped at home in search of some form of entertainment.
Winfrey tweeted a response to the rumor late on March 17, 2020:
I just got a phone call that my name tends to. And being dragged for something terrible FALSE. It is not true. Were not searched or arrested. Just disinfect and distance yourself from the rest of the world. Stay safe everyone.
– Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) March 18, 2020
The claim became popular with QAnon followers, with more details of other false arrests and lawsuits that did not go viral.
One of the shared rooms said about Trudeau:
This morning at 4:30 a.m., our Prime Minister was indicted by the United States for commercial and financial crimes. Media owners have been ordered to brainwash everyone that PM has the Corona virus with his wife and that they will not be leaving their homes for a while.
Twitter user Travis View has written about the use of the coronavirus used to cover the alleged conspiracy.
Many proponents of QAnon speculate that the COVID-19 pandemic is a “cover story” for “the storm” that is supposed to purge the world of the wrong people.
Some are ready to say that if a public figure dies from COVID-19, it will only be the cover of their suicide. pic.twitter.com/u6qMGVn1WE
– Travis View (@travis_view) March 12, 2020
Here is the explanatory video of the Washington Post on QAnon:
Twitter user Respectable Lawyer posted that he had found the man who had published the original story of Oprah’s house being searched, noting that it looked like a $ 30,000 bungalow in West Detroit – not one of Winfrey’s homes.
I found the source of Oprah’s sex trafficking hoax, and it’s just that weirdo talking in a parking lot for ten minutes. It is now the hottest topic. pic.twitter.com/TMW4pXcgxq
– Respectable lawyer (@RespectableLaw) March 18, 2020
Hanks has been a constant target of QAnon, the far-right conspiracy group that claims he and others are sending secret messages via social media and other means referring to pedophilia and child sex trafficking .
In addition to targeting Hanks and Winfrey, the plot claimed that Italy and the United Arab Emirates were two other countries where mass arrests and criminal charges have been reported to pedophiles and traffickers of children.
None of this is true.
