E-Paper
Sign In
Tom Holland apologises to namesake over Google search nightmare: 'I'm sorry, Tom'
After years of confusing the Internet, actor Tom Holland and historian Tom Holland have finally come face to face
- PUBLISHED: Mon 13 Jul 2026, 12:51 PM UPDATED: Mon 13 Jul 2026, 12:53 PM
If you try to Google British historian and author Tom Holland, you will likely have to work your way through an absolute mountain of Marvel Cinematic Universe noise first. Ever since the Hollywood actor Tom Holland shot to global fame in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the older author's online presence has been repeatedly hijacked by confused fans, media outlets and even international politicians.
The digital identity crisis finally reached its crescendo when the two worlds officially collided. Appearing face-to-face on a special episode of the author’s The Rest Is History podcast to unpack Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the two Toms finally had a frank conversation about the consequences of sharing the same name.
Recommended For You
After a brief pause to recreate the iconic Spider-Man pointing meme, Historian Tom kicked things off by introducing his guest as “the real Tom Holland”. The actor was quick to interject, correcting, “Not the real Tom Holland. The other Tom Holland”.
When the historian joked that the Marvel star's global fame would have completely destroyed his ability to search for himself online, the “Other Tom” offered a sincere apology, “I’m sorry, Tom.” His counterpart took it entirely in stride, replying, “Well, I don’t Google myself so it’s absolutely fine.”
For the historian, widely known for his bestselling ancient history books like Rubicon and Dynasty, the digital mix-ups have previously manifested in far more chaotic ways. The frustration reached a tipping point in India during the 2023 opening of Mumbai’s Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC). When the actor posed for photos with Zendaya and Bollywood royalty, thousands of fans mistakenly tagged the historian's handle, @holland_tom, forcing him to issue a viral plea saying, "Please make it stop".
And this wasn't their first Indian Internet storm. In 2021, the historian tweeted a sarcastic critique of Prime Minister Narendra Modi renaming a massive cricket stadium after himself. Millions of furious Twitter users assumed the Spider-Man star was pivoting into Indian politics, sparking a massive #BoycottSpiderman trending campaign. The author responded with dry wit, joking that he had single-handedly destroyed the actor's future box office prospects in the country.
Remarkably, the confusion extends beyond the Internet. Fellow British actor Tom Hollander (The White Lotus) once revealed on Late Night with Seth Meyers that their shared agency once accidentally emailed him the Marvel star's seven-figure Avengers box office bonus slip. As Hollander added, they only get mixed up in "non-visual contexts". But when it comes to search bars and SEO, the superhero star inevitably eclipses everyone else.
