No, Tom Hanks Is Not in Coronavirus Quarantine With Wilson Volleyball

No, Tom Hanks does not have his famous volleyball, Wilson, in his coronavirus quarantine. The Betoota Advocate, an Australian satire site, posted a photoshopped photo of Hanks with one of his famous film props of all time: Wilson, an anthropomorphized volleyball that kept his character company on a desert island in Castaway. 

No, that photo is not real.

It’s photoshopped, and came along with a short, satirical article about Hanks’ hospital stay in Australia. The Betoota Advocate wrote, “However, to keep him company, the thoughtful and overworked staff at the Gold Coast hospital have brought Hanks in a Wilson volleyball to keep him company for the duration of his stay.”

Many reporters and publications have shared this story without actually realizing that it’s fake. As BuzzFeed News noted, this real image was taken of Tom Hanks holding a Wilson volleyball at a 2015 ice hockey game, though the background of a hospital room appears to have been superimposed around him.

You can see the original video below:

The tweet by the Betoota Advocate has since been liked over 30,000 times, with 8,000 retweets.

In the comments for the tweet, it appeared that many people didn’t immediately get the joke, while others did. One person tweeted, “This should be a standard care item.”

Another person tweeted, “Wait so he can’t even be in the same room with his wife who’s also infected?”

Most people seemed to agree that it was a pretty harmless piece of “fake news” amid far more harmful misinformation spreading around the internet, regarding the coronavirus outbreak. One person tweeted, “I think it’s meant to be a little light humoured moment in this time of worry for us all, that’s it, a bit of much needed fun, it’s ok.”

In the meantime, Hanks and his wife, Rita, are in fact in quarantine and have tested positive for coronavirus. That is not fake news.

This is a developing post and will be updated.