Tom Hanks Sent A Typewriter To A Bullied Australian Boy Named Corona
An eight-year-old boy from the Australian Gold Coast has the unfortunate distinction of sharing his name with the most loathsome virus in the world. No, his name isn’t “Weinstein”! It’s “Corona”! To the surprise of no one who’s ever been eight, Corona De Vries has been bullied because of it. Kids are calling him “Coronavirus”. Creative.
When Corona found out that Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson tested positive for the virus (and in his home country, too!), he sent them a letter asking, “Are you ok?” He also mentioned the bullying.
Because Tom is a class act, and also practicing lifelong atonement for unleashing Chet Haze onto the world, he replied with a very sweet letter and the gift of a Corona-brand typewriter! Boy Corona was very pleased, saying, “I feel like I’m famous”.
via New York Post:
Hanks wasn’t one to see the boy suffer. So, dusting off his retro Corona typewriter — which he happened to have brought with him to Australia — he wrote back on April 10, “Your letter made my wife and I feel so wonderful!”
Tom went on to write:
“I thought this typewriter would suit you,” he wrote, cheekily adding, “Ask a grown up how it works. And use it to write me back.”
“P.S. You got a friend in ME!” the star wrote in reference to the immortal line uttered by his character Woody in “Toy Story.”
You can watch Corona and his family reacting to the gift and letter here:
He was Australia's highest-profile #coronavirus patient, and Oscar winner @tomhanks has now struck up a friendship with a little boy from the Gold Coast called Corona. @ccroucher9 #9News pic.twitter.com/U0uchST3Pa
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) April 23, 2020
And here’s a month-old Tom Hanks Instagram post where he shows off his Corona typewriter and writes about his experience as one of COVID’s most famous victims:
I was wondering why all this shit was named “corona”, so I did some intense research (went to the coronavirus Wikipedia page and Ctrl-F-ed “name”). It says coronavirus got its name from the little spikes that jut out from its surface. Under a microscope, scientists thought the spikes resembled a “solar corona”, which is the glowing aura that surrounds the Sun and other stars. “Corona” is Latin for “crown”, which is derived from an Ancient Greek word meaning “wreath”.
So this kid’s family gives him a unique, royal name that’s also a beer, probably thinking, “Wow. How could this possibly backfire? Kid’s either gonna be super rich and/or a legendary partier”. Then, coronavirus arrives and has to spoil everything.
You know after all this is over, Corona’s gonna have to go by “Cory” or “Roro” or some shit. Too bad. Corona and all the little Adolfs and Katrinas should start a support group.
Pic: Wenn.com