Tom Hanks and wife get Greek citizenship for wildfire aid | Inquirer Entertainment

Tom Hanks and wife get Greek citizenship for wildfire aid

/ 08:46 AM July 28, 2020

ATHENS, Greece  — A point of pride for Greece was touched by controversy Monday, as the country’s prime minister was criticized by an opposition party for using a military helicopter during a trip to celebrate with Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, on being granted Greek citizenship.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, Prime Minister Kyriakos shared a photograph of showing him and his wife Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotaki at a meeting with Hanks and Wilson, who were holding up their new Greek passports.

“Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks are now proud Greek citizens,” Mitsotakis wrote in the post.

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Greece offered citizenship to Hanks, Wilson, and their two children, in recognition of the family’s help in raising funds for the victims of a deadly wildfire near Athens in 2018.

Wilson, an actress and producer, has Greek and Bulgarian ancestry.

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Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Monday that the prime minister and his wife had used a commercial flight on Saturday to travel to the island of Paros, and then traveled to nearby Antiparos, where Hanks and Wilson have a holiday home. They then used a military helicopter for a trip to the ancient theater of Epidaurus on Sunday to watch a performance of an ancient tragedy.

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The main left-wing opposition Syriza party accused the prime minister of using Greece’s military helicopters like a “personal radio taxi.”

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Petsas argued that Mitsotakis was performing his duties as prime minister by attending an “important cultural event.”

Neither Petsas nor Syriza referred to Hanks by name.

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