Watch: Tom Hanks roasts Sony at CES 2009

The annual Consumer Electronics Show is easily one of the biggest if not the biggest tech expo in the world. As a result, companies spend a ton of cash on stands, speakers and marketing in general.

In fact, the 2009 running saw actor Tom Hanks take to the stage for Sony, who then went on to rake the Japanese firm over the coals in a manner only he could do.

“I have to confess that I’m not here to promote that movie (pointing to the banner in the background) or to curry favour with executives at Sony. Oh no, I’m here simply because of Betamax regret, I went VHS. What a fool I was, what a different world this would’ve been had I only been one of the 600 people that bought Betamax back in the day,” Hanks quipped.

“Everywhere I turn in this world, I see the name ‘Sony’. Sony, Sony, Sony. I show up on the set and there it is on the camera, ‘Sony’. Really? I have yet to see that,” Hanks told the CES audience, battling to contain his laughter.

Tom Hanks blasted Sony, then-CEO Howard Stringer and a pair of prototype glasses at CES 2009

“They write the lies but I tell the truth,” he added shortly afterward.

Hanks told the crowd that his appearance was written into his contract for the movie Angels and Demons and that Stringer was withholding his cheque.

Watch the hilarious, 12-minute-long video below.

h/t: grantrules via reddit