Chet Hanks’ ex-girlfriend has filed a lawsuit against him for $1 million, claiming she was physically and verbally assaulted during the course of their relationship.
Kiana Parker came forward with her legal team in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon in Richmond, Texas, where attorneys Kevin Murray and D’Angelo Lowe described Hanks’ alleged behavior as “an ever-escalating pattern of domestic abuse.”
They also claimed they had tried to reach Hanks’ parents, actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, about Parker’s accusations “multiple times” in January and February, but they “never responded.”
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“This is about violence within the confines of a relationship between a man and a woman, a man who mentally and physically and psychologically battered, Kiana Parker,” Murray said.
“I’m sorry, Chet Hanks would have been charged by now,” Lowe added. “Instead, he has not been charged and has made a mockery of Black women in the criminal justice system by proclaiming that it’s going to be a ‘white boy summer,’ and a ‘Black queen summer’ while knowing he mentally and physically abused a Black queen.”
Meanwhile, as Parker’s legal team was sending out email blasts about the lawsuit, Hanks seemed unbothered by the looming press conference. He dropped a teaser for his “White Boy Summer” music video, where he’s surrounded by twerking, bikini-clad women as he raps, “Hit the strip club, I’m like thunder. She let me beat it, I’m white boy wonder.”
Roughly an hour after the press conference ended, Hanks suddenly announced he was dropping his music video early. “Fuck it,” he wrote. “I was gonna wait til Friday but I see y’all really ready for this. ‘White Boy Summer’ dropping 6 p.m. today.”
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Hanks’ lawyer Marty Singer said, “We consider the claims filed by Kiana Parker to be a shakedown... Her claims are completely false, fabricated and fictional.”
Parker’s domestic violence accusation was first brought to public attention a few weeks ago when Hanks, 30, went viral for declaring it was a “white boy summer”—a spinoff of Megan Thee Stallion coining the now infamous mantra “hot girl summer.”
“They’ve been asking me, ‘Chet, if it’s going to be a white boy summer, does that make it a Black queen summer for you?’” Hanks said. “I said, ‘Do you know me? ‘Cause if you did, you’d know that was all year round.’”
Even Rihanna couldn’t help but laugh, leaving her stamp of approval in the form of emojis on the Instagram post, and Hanks quickly moved to capitalize on the newfound attention. In just three days, he was selling hoodies and T-shirts with the phrases “White Boy Summer” and “Black Queen Summer” emblazoned on the back.
But as Hanks kept pushing for the celebration of Black women, others claimed he wasn’t practicing what he preached when they discovered Parker had filed for a temporary protective order against him in January.
Parker, a mother to 9-year-old twins, claimed Hanks became physically violent with her on several occasions and allegedly would threaten her, once calling her a “ghetto Black bitch,” according to her affidavit and the civil suit.
Describing an October 2020 incident in New Orleans where Hanks was filming Showtime's Your Honor, Parker claimed in legal papers that the couple got into an argument and Hanks “grabbed me by my wrist forcefully pulled me into him telling me we were going back to the [hotel] room.”
Later that night when Parker returned to their hotel room, Hanks allegedly “became aggressive and hostile about what transpired earlier,” according to the court document. “He started harassing me verbally and forcefully shoving me, telling me, ‘I would not disrespect him, he was in control, he would not allow what happened with his mom and dad’s relationship to happen to ours,’ and other things.”
“I got emotional, stated I was leaving, and he grabbed me forcefully by my right arm, causing me pain and I began to flail,” Parker’s affidavit claimed. “He would not let go of me and the tables were knocked over during the struggle. Once I was able to get away, he threw a bottle at me. The room was a mess, I grabbed my backpack that had a few personal items in it and tried to leave the room, but he would not let me and began to grab me and drag me away from the door.”
Parker claimed things escalated and Hanks smashed her phone, causing her to flee the room in her pajamas with Hanks chasing after her in just his boxers, “grabbing me by my arm pulling me and trying to force me back into the room.”
She alleged that Hanks made various threats, including jumping off the balcony if she left the room and allegedly told her no one would believe her because she “wasn’t shit” and was a “ghetto black bitch.” Parker claimed that although security questioned her, she told them everything was okay because she didn’t want to “tarnish” Hanks’ name and brand.
The next alleged incident came when the couple was back at their shared home in Sugar Land, Texas, in December 2020. “Things turned dark, he told me he would ‘blow my brains out’ and that he ‘didn’t want to live and would blow his brains out’ as well,” Parker claimed in her filing. “I hid his gun so that he could not find it.”
Parker said she ended their relationship in January. They began dating in March 2019 and officially became a couple in March 2020. A few days after they broke up, Parker said she arrived at their home with movers and her assistant to pack up the rest of her belongings.
“[Chet] started following me around the house, standing in front me, questioning me, intentionally brushing against me and bumping me, overall being hostile as if he was intentionally trying to start a dispute,” according to Parker's affidavit. “While I was packing up the kitchen, Chet came in and put his hand on a knife that was laying on the countertop… he began to come towards me, and I picked up a pot and swung it in the air in front of me and dropped it and started to run away towards the door. He rushed after me and grabbed me by my wrist. I pulled and was able to get away and run out of the house. He became even angrier and made somewhat of a growling noise while chasing after me.”
Parker claimed she tried to record the altercation on her cell phone, but Hanks allegedly began struggling with her for the phone. “Hanks kicked Parker’s legs and caused her to fall as he dragged her across the pavement,” the civil suit alleges. “Hanks was pulling Parker by her right arm. Parker felt that her arm was coming in and out of place.”
Hanks then allegedly ran into the house looking for his gun, Parker claimed in her affidavit. While he was inside, she called the police. Allegedly unable to find his gun, Hanks drove off.
“I am afraid that he will hurt me again if we see each other face-to-face or if he finds out where I am staying,” Parker claimed in the affidavit dated Jan. 12.
The Daily Beast understands the police investigation into the January altercation is still open and active.
TMZ also obtained aftermath footage of the incident from Hanks’ perspective. Parker is seen holding a pot in the video and appears to swipe at her former boyfriend. When Hanks turns the camera around, there’s blood streaming from his forehead.
His camp claimed Parker had been stealing from him, which she denies. He subsequently filed suit against her in Los Angeles, claiming theft, battery, and assault.
“The lawsuit filed by Ms Parker is in response to the lawsuit filed by Chet Hanks against Ms Parker on March 4, 2021,” Singer said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “The day after Chet Hanks confronted Kiana Parker about stealing money from his credit card, while Ms. Parker was accompanied by a huge male carrying a gun she viciously attacked Chet which caused him to profusely bleed. It is all on video and the undisputed video tells the whole story.”
