As they say, write about what you know. During his conversation with the BBC's Mark Lawson, the actor turned author expressed his frustration with book publishers. Tom Hanks believes that classic novels should not be altered or censored to conform to contemporary sensibilities, but rather left in their original form.

According to Hanks, "We're all grown-ups here and we understand the time and the place and when these things were written. It's not very hard at all to say: 'That doesn't quite fly right now, does it?' So let's have faith in our own sensibilities here, instead of having somebody decide what we may or may not be offended by." He believes that people should have the freedom to choose which media they consume and to decide for themselves what offends them.

Hanks went on to state that he would be against reading any book from any era that has been "abridged due to modern sensitivities." His comments follow a number of instances of censorship in classic literature. For example, the company that publishes Roald Dahl's books recently announced that an alternate classic collection would be released to "keep the author's classic text in print," after facing backlash over their decision to rewrite the books. In 2020, the publisher hired sensitivity writers and worked with a children's literature collective to review Dahl's works and modify the author's language so that the books "can continue to be enjoyed by all today."

Similarly, Ian Fleming's James Bond novels will now come with a disclaimer stating, "This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace." Hanks' stance is that classic literature should not be rewritten or censored, but rather left as it is for readers to interpret and understand within the context of the time and place it was written.