Monday, February 17, 2025

Fact Check

Tom Hanks Fled to Israel After Epstein Docs Release? No, Old Video Of Actor Dancing In Rabbi Attire Shared With False Claim

Written By Kushel HM, Edited By Pankaj Menon
Jan 4, 2024
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Claim

Hollywood actor Tom Hanks converts to Judaism and flees to Israel following the release of the Epstein client list.

The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.

What are the Epstein Documents?

Dozens of previously sealed court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein were reportedly made public late on Wednesday (January 3), as a court releases more details of a years-old lawsuit connected to the late millionaire and convicted sex offender known for associating with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and academic stars.

The documents are set to reveal more than 150 names of people linked to Epstein, who died by suicide in a US prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and other charges.

Fact

Newschecker first ran a keyword search for ā€œEpstein Tom Hanks Israelā€, which did not lead us to any relevant news reports stating that the actor fled to Israel. We noticed that the viral video of Hanks dancing was purported to be from a CNN report. We looked up the CNN website, where we did not find any such report, raising our doubts.

Newschecker, however, came across this Times of Israel report, dated July 9, 2014, headlined, ā€œā€˜Rabbiā€™ Tom Hanks dances on Instagramā€.

ā€œTom Hanks may have been wearing a bit of a costume, but it didnā€™t look like he was just acting at having fun at the recent wedding of Scooter Braun, Justin Bieberā€™s Jewish manager. In a video posted on Tuesday by the singer, the actor is seen joyfully dancing while wearing a yarmulke and tallit (Jewish prayer shawl). To be sure, the tallit looked like it could have been fashioned from a tablecloth, but that was beside the point,ā€ read the report.

A comparison of screenshots of the viral video (left) and the 2014 Instagram video (right) uploaded by Justin Bieber, confirms it is the same clip that has gone viral. Similar news reports can be seen here, here and here, confirming that the viral video shows Hanks singing and dancing to the 1995 R&B hit ā€œThis Is How We Do Itā€ at a Jewish wedding reception in Whistler, Canada.

Also Read: Video Claiming To Show Attack On Masood Azhar Is From November 2023 Attack On Cops In Pakistanā€™s Dera Ismail Khan

Result: False

Sources
Times of Israel report, July 9, 2014
Instagram video, Justin Bieber, July 8, 2014


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