Matt Sayles/AP Photo No more Mr. Nice Guy?
We never took Tom Hanks as one of the potty-mouthed Hollywood stars whose appearance on live television would call for a seven-second delay, but that's exactly what was needed this morning when the A-lister slipped up during an appearance on Good Morning America and accidentally dropped an F-bomb in the middle of his interview.
Well, that'll wake up the nation.
The verbal gaffe came while Hanks was promoting his new film Cloud Atlas and was poking fun of his accent in the movie.
"Mostly it's swear words," he joked. Hey, can't say he didn't warn us. After some urging, the actor acquiesced and gave a taster of what he called his incomprehensible dialect, accidentally including a heavily accented "f--k" in the middle of his made-up word spew.
Credit to him, he immediately realized what he said and stopped midsentence, covering his mouth while leaving a clearly caught-off-guard Elizabeth Vargas to issue an immediate apology.
"We are so sorry, America," she said, as the equally shell-shocked Hanks looked past the camera and said, "Man, oh, man."
"I'm sorry," he jumped in. "I slipped into a brand of acting. I have never done that before; I apologize to the kids in America that are watching this right now, and let me say that the next time I'm on the show there will be a seven-second delay.
"And I think I might've just made that a little incomprehensible to some people," he said, before switching gears and good-naturedly finding the scapegoat the situation required.
"Never give me a hand-held mic," he joked, before literally pointing fingers. "I blame the staff. I blame the staff. Man, oh, man."
The apologies didn't stop there, though, as Hanks later took to Twitter to offer yet another mea culpa for his slip.
"For GMA, spesh kowtow for Lizzie V for WHAT DID I JUST SAY??? Oops! In character! Sorry! Hanx."
Oh, Tom, all is already forgiven. It couldn't have happened to—or been handled by—a nicer guy.
Of course, leave it to the Parents Television Council to take issue with the slip, as the conservative media watchdog released a statement on the incident.
"Once again, a morning news show has allowed the harshest profanity to be broadcast into every living room and breakfast table in the country. This is just another in a long, sad string of similar instances where all of the major network morning shows have permitted this inappropriate and offensive content. These cannot and must not be dismissed as mistakes, and it's time for the networks to step up, take responsibility for what they broadcast, and ensure that this never happens again."
(Originally published on Oct. 19, 2012, at 7:56 a.m. PT)