George Clooney Defends Tom Cruise’s COVID-19 Outburst But Says He Would Have Done It Differently

December 17, 2020 / Posted by:

Earlier today we learned that five crew members up and quit working on Mission: Impossible VII, due to Tom Cruise repeatedly flipping his shit over the crew not following COVID-19 on-set safety protocols while filming in the UK. Thanks to some leaked audio, we know that breaking the six-feet-apart rule makes Tom erupt with more alpha rage than Les Grossman and Frank T.J. Mackey combined. But even though some people aren’t in Tom’s corner, we know that George Clooney is.

There have been many opinions on Tom’s outburst, with some applauding him for taking the situation seriously, and others who felt that he went a little far, considering the power imbalance between Huge A-list Movie Star yelling at union crew members. George Clooney was asked about Tom’s freakout during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show yesterday, and George’s opinion on the matter is that he falls right in the middle of both. via E! News:

“He 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. 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.”

George added that it’s made even more complicated, due to the fact that we don’t know if this was the first time Tom had to speak to those specific crew members or the 1 millionth time.

“I think it doesn’t help necessarily to point to specific people in that way and do it that…but, you know, everybody has their own style. The people who were on that shoot will tell us more about it. 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.”

That’s not to say that George would have held back on the curse words. Or that he isn’t taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. George got all fired up in the same Howard Stern Show episode when talking about anti-maskers. George says he wouldn’t have called out anyone in such a personal way, but he sure does take the objection to mask-wearing pretty personally. via HuffPo:

“This thought where everybody is like, ‘Well, it’s my freedom.’ It’s like, that’s not how this shit works, dumbass. Your freedom is this: You’re free to smoke until your lungs turn black, but you can’t do it on the bus. And you’re free to drink until your liver comes out your ass, but you can’t drink and then get behind the wheel of a car. Put on a fucking mask and we’ll get through this. We’ve got vaccines coming – let’s save another 60,000 lives before the vaccines.”

I get what George is saying about Tom Cruise’s approach. It all comes down to personal branding. Tom Cruise is intense and serious, so naturally, his response to a no-no would reflect that. George is more playful and charming. So if George were to somehow Freaky Friday his way into Tom Cruise’s life, then his approach wouldn’t be to get in the offending crew members’ faces (well, six feet away). If this was George’s problem, we’d likely be hearing that he posted a strongly-worded memo near the honey wagon that reads: “Don’t be COVID-19 loony, do like George Clooney…and stay seven People magazine covers or 72 Nespresso pods apart.

Pic: Wenn.com

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