WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump celebrated news on Monday that an alumni group from West Point canceled an award ceremony set to honor Tom Hanks, with the president calling the famous actor 鈥渄estructive鈥 and 鈥淲OKE.鈥
Hanks was scheduled to receive the 2025 Sylvanus Thayer Award on Sept. 25, but the U.S. Military Academy’s alumni association canceled the ceremony last week, according to news reports.
鈥淚mportant move!鈥 Trump said in a post on his social media network Monday. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American Awards!!! Hopefully the Academy Awards, and other Fake Award Shows, will review their Standards and Practices in the name of Fairness and Justice.鈥
West Point, its alumni association and a representative for Hanks did not immediately respond to messages and calls seeking comment Monday.
It comes as Trump has moved to of higher education institutes and the military in his second term, seeking to assert control with a mix of executive orders and threats of legal action and withholding funds.
This summer, the Army secretary directed West Point to review its hiring practices, bar outside groups from choosing employees and who led the nation鈥檚 cybersecurity agency under then-President Joe Biden.
Earlier this year, West Point centered on ethnicity, gender, race and sexuality in response to the Trump administration鈥檚 push to throughout government. The school also dressed in his Confederate uniform in the library as the Trump administration has pushed to restore Confederate names and monuments that have been removed in recent years.
The Sylvanus Thayer Award award is named for an early superintendent of the military academy who is known as the 鈥淔ather of West Point.” It has been given out every year since 1958 鈥渢o an outstanding citizen of the United States whose service and accomplishments in the national interest exemplify personal devotion to the ideals expressed in West Point鈥檚 motto: 鈥楧uty, Honor, Country,鈥欌 according to the West Point Association of Graduates.
鈥淭om Hanks has done more for the positive portrayal of the American service member, more for the caring of the American veteran, their caregivers and their family, and more for the American space program and all branches of government than many other Americans,鈥 association board chairman Robert McDonald said in a June press release about the award.
Retired Army Col. Mark Bieger, president and chief executive officer of the association, wrote in an email Friday that the decision to call off the award ceremony 鈥渁llows the Academy to continue its focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight, and win as officers in the world鈥檚 most lethal force, the United States Army,鈥 according to The Washington Post, which was first to report on the cancellation.
Last year’s recipient was .
Hanks starred in the 1998 war drama 鈥淪aving Private Ryan鈥 and co-produced with Steven Spielberg the World War II HBO miniseries 鈥淏and of Brothers.鈥
Hanks is among Hollywood鈥檚 most , donating to support a slew of Democratic politicians and progressive causes. He vocally endorsed Obama, Hillary Clinton and Biden in their presidential bids and signed an open letter endorsing Kamala Harris last year.
He鈥檚 also gone to work for the Democrats. In 2012, he narrated a short documentary, 鈥淭he Road We鈥檝e Traveled,鈥 for Obama鈥檚 reelection campaign.
To fete Biden鈥檚 inauguration in 2021, Hanks hosted a
A year later, he narrated a two-minute ad spot from the Biden Inaugural Committee touting the accomplishments of the president鈥檚 first term. He also served as a , a nonpartisan civic engagement organization founded by former first lady Michelle Obama to boost voter outreach.
And for the better part of the past decade, Hanks has made no secret of his disapproval of Trump and the president鈥檚 policies. He called the then-Republican candidate a 鈥渟elf-involved gasbag鈥 during an on-stage interview in 2016. After Trump took office, Hanks said that actions like the attempted travel ban for Muslim-majority countries represented a 鈥渂rand of tragedy.鈥
During 鈥渄eep divisions and a troubling rancor in our land鈥 and warned against attempts to twist the truth by those entrusted with public service . Just this past year, he stoked the ire of Trump supporters after depicting a caricature of one during the
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Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Jocelyn Noveck and Mallika Sen in New York contributed to this report.