By Mark Gray
6:18am PST, Dec 17, 2020
It was the rant heard around the world! On Dec. 15, The Sun leaked audio of Tom Cruise laying into crew members on the set of "Mission: Impossible 7" for violating COVID-19 protocols. In the expletive-laced tirade, Tom yells, "I don't ever want to see it again. Ever! And if you don't do it, you're fired, and I see you do it again, you're f****** gone." The movie star, who's also a producer on the film, noted how important following mitigation rules is from a financial standpoint. "You can tell it to the people who are losing their f****** homes because our industry is shut down. It's not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That's what I sleep with every night," he said. "So I'm sorry. I am beyond your apologies. I have told you, and now I want it, and if you don't do it, you're out." Although the meltdown was profane and angry, many celebrities backed Tom's feelings about the importance of set safety as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. Click through to see how Hollywood is responding…
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"[Tom Cruise] didn't overreact, because it is a problem. I have a friend who's an AD on another TV show who just had the almost exact same thing happen with not quite as far out a response," George Clooney told Howard Stern. "I wouldn't have done it that big. I wouldn't have, you know, pulled people out. You're in a position of power and it's tricky, right? You do have a responsibility for everybody else and he's absolutely right about that. And, you know, if the production goes down, a lot of people lose their jobs. People have to understand that and have to be responsible. It's just not my style to, you know, to take everybody to task that way. I understand why he did it. He's not wrong at all about that. You know, I just, I don't know that I would have done it quite that personally, but I don't know all the circumstances so maybe he had it 10 or 15 times before."
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"You know, some people don't understand why he would get so angry. I get it," Whoopi Goldberg said on "The View." "You can get a new camera operator — no disrespect to camera operators. You can get a new sound man. But if [Tom Cruise] is looking over and he can see you not doing what you're supposed to be doing, it's kind of like a little bit of a middle finger, in my opinion."
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"I don't care what you think about Scientology… TC is the hardest working guy in Hollywood for decades. He's a perfectionist who cares deeply about what goes on the screen and takes care of everybody on both sides of the camera. Guy's a total [expletive] pro… very, very talented." –Billy Baldwin
"I've never liked him more! Can I just blast this at the supermarket?"–Hilarie Burton Morgan
"If Tom Cruise were president we'd all be at the movies with our grandparents right now." –Lenny Jacobson
"If you've shot during the pandemic, you know the Herculean effort it is to keep a project going within Covid protocols. Then some dude doesn't wanna wear his shield? Nah. Been there. Felt the rage. Also: If I did that on set, I'd be directing icing videos for the local bakery." –Ava DuVernay
"I don't think it's for anyone to judge an out-of-context 'rant.' But someone screaming at people (with the pretense of others losing their homes – when you could pay your entire crew their yearly rent without batting an eye) is gonna be triggering for some. That being said… I for sure hollered in the privacy of my home tonight about someone not present and their decisions that affect me and the decisions I make during a pandemic and I would NOT want it to be shared. If you've gotten through this without hollering…were you awake?" –Bethany Anne Lind
"Need to work on my b****ness" –Aisha Tyler
"I would say the support for @TomCruise is overwhelmingly positive! Forgive the pun!" –Boy George
"I believe that Tom Cruise was completely justified in doing that," Joy Behar said on "The View."
"Only a Tom Cruise on a set could get away with that … You should never speak to grown adults like the way he just did." –Sara Haines
"Imagine the backlash if it had been any woman at all yelling and screaming instead of Tom Cruise" –Patti Murin
"He's right" –Michael Rapaport
"This is me every day with my kids." –Jessica Seinfeld
While on "The View," Sunny Hostin said the safety violation "probably warrants his rage, his anger, his disappointment."
"The Tom Cruise rant is [100] and also has been playing in my head on a loop since March." –Paula Pell
