The left has been waiting years for the Obama Presidential Center to open its doors.
But the grand opening didn’t exactly go the way they planned.
Tom Hanks showed up to celebrate and ended up handing the left’s favorite network one of the most embarrassing moments it’s had in years — right to the reporter’s face.
The Moment That Stopped a Live Broadcast Cold
The Obama Presidential Center finally opened in Chicago’s Jackson Park recently, and Hollywood turned out in force. Stevie Wonder, Oprah Winfrey, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, and former Presidents Joe Biden and George W. Bush all turned up to show their support. Tom Hanks was among them.
Hanks was among the high-profile guests at the grand opening when he stopped for a live interview with MS NOW correspondent Jacob Soboroff. Soboroff called out to the Forrest Gump star, and a few awkward seconds passed while Hanks addressed others in the crowd.
Then Hanks turned to the camera and delivered the line that broke the internet.
“What can I do for the 800 people watching MS Now?” Hanks asked. The reporter was a tad hurt by the comment, so Hanks added, “Alright, add a zero to it if you need to.”
And there it was. One of Hollywood’s most beloved liberals, standing at a ceremony celebrating Barack Obama’s legacy, casually torching the network that spent years cheerleading for everything the left holds dear.
Just for comparison, the nine a.m. show on Fox News, America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer, usually earns up to 2.1 million viewers during that time slot. Eight thousand — the number Hanks generously offered after adding a zero — wouldn’t even register as a rounding error.
The Numbers Behind the Joke
Hanks wasn’t exactly wrong. The ratings picture at MS NOW has been grim for a while now.
Fox News averaged 2.652 million total viewers in primetime in 2025, while MS NOW averaged 915,000 total viewers in primetime, down 15 percent from 2024. But the total viewer number is almost the flattering version of the story. MS NOW averaged 80,000 demo viewers, down 40 percent on the previous year, in primetime. Forty percent. In a single year.
The network formerly known as MSNBC rebranded in late 2025. With Comcast preparing to divest most of NBCUniversal’s cable networks as the new company Versant, MSNBC separated itself from the NBCUniversal News Group and rebranded as “MS NOW” — a backronym of “My Source for News, Opinion, and the World” — on November 15, 2025. New name, same shrinking audience.
Fox News dominated the list of most-watched cable news programs in 2025, with 14 of the top 15 shows, while MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show was the only non-Fox program to make the list. One show keeping the lights on. That’s the state of the network that spent years telling Americans what to think about Donald Trump, COVID, and everything else they were supposed to believe.
Hanks said 800. The real number is considerably higher than that, but the joke landed because everybody watching understood what he meant. The cultural authority these networks once had is gone. A Hollywood actor can walk up to one of their reporters at a major live event and publicly mock their audience size — and the clip goes viral because millions of people nodded along.
The Obama Center Itself Wasn’t Exactly Controversy-Free
The Hanks moment overshadowed some of the other awkward details surrounding the opening, and there were plenty.
Former President Barack Obama’s presidential center was initially estimated to cost $350 million; however, after a slate of setbacks and delays, the price of the project more than doubled to a staggering $850 million. That’s not a renovation. That’s a full reinvention of the budget.
As construction was ongoing in Chicago, the center faced an array of controversies, including opposition from locals, anger over the use of tax dollars to support surrounding infrastructure, critiques of the building’s design, alleged failure to pay contractors, and even a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination.
The design itself drew some sharp reactions. The Guardian’s architecture critic wrote that “the building has an ominous presence, its mostly windowless heft recalling a menacing sci-fi headquarters.” One Chicago resident who grew up near the campus put it more plainly. “It’s a monstrosity. It’s over budget, it’s taking way too long to finish, and it’s going to drive up prices and bring headaches and problems for everyone who lives here,” the resident told the Daily Mail. “It feels like a washing away of the neighborhood and culture that used to be here.”
And then there’s the ID requirement. Illinois residents are eligible for free admission on certain days — but must present a valid photo ID, Illinois driver’s license, state ID, or city-issued ID to verify residency. That requirement drew pointed criticism from conservative commentators who argued it contradicts years of Democrat opposition to voter identification laws. The same party that spent years insisting voter ID was an attack on democracy apparently has no problem demanding ID to get into a museum for free.
The foundation’s CEO, Valerie Jarrett, has been drawing a salary that raised eyebrows well before the doors opened. CharityWatch examined leadership compensation at the Barack Obama Foundation following disclosures that CEO Valerie Jarrett received $755,862 in salary and other compensation during 2024, while numerous other officers and key employees also received multiple six-figure compensation packages.
What the Clip Really Tells You
The MS NOW reporter, to his credit, took the jab without completely falling apart on camera. But the damage was done before he could even respond.
What made the moment sting wasn’t just the joke. It was who was making it. Tom Hanks is not Tucker Carlson. He’s not a conservative commentator taking a shot at a rival network. He’s one of the most famous liberal actors in Hollywood, standing at a ceremony honoring a Democrat president, and he still couldn’t resist pointing out that MS NOW’s audience has essentially evaporated.
But that’s where the left finds itself right now. Their flagship cable news operation spent years lecturing Americans, censoring dissent, and pushing narratives that millions of people rejected. The audience walked. Cord-cutting accelerated. Americans increasingly get their news, political commentary, and entertainment from creators they choose to follow directly rather than from legacy television networks. And the viewers who stayed are aging out of the demographic advertisers actually pay for.
Adding a zero to 800 gets you to 8,000. Fox News’s nine a.m. show pulls up to 2.1 million viewers — so if Hanks imagines all MS NOW can dredge up is eight thousand viewers, that says it all.
The network rebranded. Changed the logo, moved the studios, came up with a new acronym. The network spent millions introducing viewers to the new name while attempting to reassure audiences that its mission hadn’t changed. The problem is that a new logo and a new name don’t solve the larger issue, which is that Americans just don’t trust the liberal media to tell the truth.
And Tom Hanks, of all people, just summed up that problem in eleven words on live television.
Sources: Breitbart, Parade, The Daily Beast, Washington Times, Fox News, TV Insider, AdWeek/Nielsen, Wikipedia (MS NOW), CharityWatch, That Park Place