The Almost Famous Relatives of Famous People

If you are famous, people are always trying to get something out of you. From Frank Stallone to Jim Belushi, we’ve seen how even your own family will try to ride your coattails. Here are some of the infamous and almost famous that are following in their relatives more famous footsteps.

Tom Hanks Son is a Rapper How many rappers do you know named Chester? Well now you know one: Chester Hanks AKA “Chet Haze” the son of Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks is an aspiring rapper and frat boy college student. Having released the song “Purple and White” in an effort to stir up school spirit at his college, North Western University Hanks throws down his street cred of growing up on “the west side” AKA Los Angeles. The video of his rap song which you can watch below has gone viral. Hanks raps about his frat boy lifestyle including keg parties, bagging freshmen and rolling blunts. I’m sure his dad is proud.

Overall he sounds like any other not-so-talented amateur rapper trying to make it  and no one outside of North Western would give him a second listen if his last name wasn’t Hanks. Remember when Kevin Federline came out with an album? Hanks and Federline should grab Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton and go on the “Just Because I’m Rich I’m going to Record an Album” tour.  I guess having children is kind of like that old Forrest Gump quote; “Sometimes life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”

Chester Hanks “White and Purple”

(YouTube link)

Gallagher Too

When you think of prop comedy, one name comes to mind amongst all the rest: Gallagher. Gallagher is a comedian who was big in the 1980’s and early 90’s who stole the show smashing huge watermelons and showering his audiences with loads of goop. This may or may not be your thing, but Gallagher proved to have a successful act during this period with countless TV specials released. Unfortunately his brother Ron Gallagher wasn’t having the same amount of success in life and around this time was unemployed and down on his luck. At first, like a good brother Leo Gallaher (the famous one) gave Ron permission to perform his water melon smashing “Sledge-O-Matic” shtick under one condition; Ron must promote these live appearances in a way that would make it clear that fans were getting the brother and not THE Gallagher.

At first Ron adhered to these restrictions, but then slowly started to make the distinction less clear. He billed the shows as “Gallagher Too” or even “Gallagher II” and made no mention that he was not the mustached, long haired but balding man millions loved to watch smash watermelons on TV. He just really, really looked like him. Eventually Leo Gallagher sued his brother Ron in 2000 for trademark violations and false advertising. Leo won the lawsuit and Ron can no longer perform his brother’s routine or even intentionally try and look like his brother. Check out Ron Gallagher impersonating his brother’s act.

Leo Gallagher is on the left; Ron Gallagher is at right.

Dane Cook’s Half Brother Embezzled Millions from Him

Working as his business manager for years, Dane Cook’s half brother Darryl McCauley stole millions from the comedian and is now serving jail time for what Dane told Larry King was a total “betrayal.”  Having used the money to buy a home and make investments in a hotel and restaurant, McCauley was sentenced to five to six years hard time for 27 counts of larceny and three counts of forgery and embezzlement. The dubious brother who wanted his chunk of the comic star’s wealth will have to repay 12 million dollars to Cook. What’s with all the drama from comedians’ families? Also, Dane Cook is making enough money not to notice twelve million dollars missing? Instead of stealing the money, Darryl should have taken a page out of the playbook of Gallagher II and we could have all ironically enjoyed a second rate rendition of “who's in my mouth” (supposing that there is a first rate rendition).

Marvin Bush 9/11 Conspiracy

Marvin Bush has a lot of big famous family shoes to fill as the son of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbra Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush and the brother of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. While Marvin never ran for political office, he, like his well known relatives, was successful in business, sitting on the board of directors for a company called Securacom. Because of this, Marvin Bush is famous or rather infamous to people in the 9/11 Truth Movement, those who believe that the terrorist attacks were an “inside job” perpetrated by the US government (let the trolling begin).

If you do a quick Google search for Marvin Bush, a good number of links will be regarding his involvement in this 9/11 conspiracy claiming that Securacom was in charge of security for the World Trade Center and that the company’s contract ran out on September 10th 2001. From this, they speculate that Marvin’s company was responsible for what they deem strange security lapses in the days leading up to the attack and even setting up the explosive charges that they believe were the true cause of the trade center’s collapse. Others have pointed out that Marvin actually left the company in 2000, but this hasn’t dissuaded conspiracy theorists from asserting his involvement.

What are some of your favorite almost famous relatives of famous people?