George Clooney, Hilarie Burton and More Celebrities React to Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ COVID Rant

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George Clooney, Hilarie Burton and More Celebrities React to Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ COVID Rant

Out of line or all for it? Tom Cruise’s rant on the Mission: Impossible 7 set about crew members not following COVID-19 protocols drew reactions of praise from some, including fellow celebrities. The actor, 58, made headlines on Tuesday, December 15, when The Sun published a recording of him screaming at the film’s crew. “They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us,” he reportedly said in the audio clip. “I’m on the phone with every f—king studio at night, insurance companies, producers. They are looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs, you mother—kers.” Cruise then seemingly threatened the staff. “If I see you do it again, you’re f—king gone. And if anyone on this crew does it, that’s it — and you too and you too. And you, don’t you ever f—king do it again,” he continued. “That’s it. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their f—king homes because our industry is shut down.” The Top Gun star went on to say that he was “beyond” their apologies, adding: “I have told you and now I want it and if you do it, you’re out! We are not shutting this f—king movie down. Is it understood? If I see it again, you’re f—king gone.” [sendtonews type="float" key="P7xJ1SUi27-3118206-14453"] Mission: Impossible 7, which also stars Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff, shut down production in Venice in February because of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. “We are altering the production plan for our three-week shoot in Venice, the scheduled first leg of an extensive production for Mission: Impossible 7,” a Paramount spokesperson said at the time. “During this hiatus we want to be mindful of the concerns of the crew and are allowing them to return home until production starts. We will continue to monitor this situation, and work alongside health and government officials as it evolves.” Filming resumed in July, while the release date was pushed from July 2021 to November 2021. Cruise has played Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise since 1996. Scroll through the gallery below to see celebrity reactions to Cruise’s rant. Hear the Us Weekly editors break down the most surprising celebrity births during the pandemic in under 2 minutes!

Credit: Piero Tenagli/IPA/Shutterstock

George Clooney, Hilarie Burton and More Celebrities React to Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ COVID Rant

Out of line or all for it? Tom Cruise’s rant on the Mission: Impossible 7 set about crew members not following COVID-19 protocols drew reactions of praise from some, including fellow celebrities. The actor, 58, made headlines on Tuesday, December 15, when The Sun published a recording of him screaming at the film’s crew. “They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us,” he reportedly said in the audio clip. “I’m on the phone with every f—king studio at night, insurance companies, producers. They are looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs, you mother—kers.” Cruise then seemingly threatened the staff. “If I see you do it again, you’re f—king gone. And if anyone on this crew does it, that’s it — and you too and you too. And you, don’t you ever f—king do it again,” he continued. “That’s it. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their f—king homes because our industry is shut down.” The Top Gun star went on to say that he was “beyond” their apologies, adding: “I have told you and now I want it and if you do it, you’re out! We are not shutting this f—king movie down. Is it understood? If I see it again, you’re f—king gone.” [sendtonews type="float" key="P7xJ1SUi27-3118206-14453"] Mission: Impossible 7, which also stars Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff, shut down production in Venice in February because of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. “We are altering the production plan for our three-week shoot in Venice, the scheduled first leg of an extensive production for Mission: Impossible 7,” a Paramount spokesperson said at the time. “During this hiatus we want to be mindful of the concerns of the crew and are allowing them to return home until production starts. We will continue to monitor this situation, and work alongside health and government officials as it evolves.” Filming resumed in July, while the release date was pushed from July 2021 to November 2021. Cruise has played Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise since 1996. Scroll through the gallery below to see celebrity reactions to Cruise’s rant. Hear the Us Weekly editors break down the most surprising celebrity births during the pandemic in under 2 minutes!

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Ricky Gervais

“I get it. Imagine the pressure on that man,” the comedian said during a Friday, December 18, appearance on SiriusXM’s Jim Norton and Sam Roberts radio show. “It's like, forget the pandemic. Those films absolutely rest on his shoulders, and they have done for, like, 30 or 40 years. So, you know, I've done jobs where I've taken a bit of cash that I didn't quite like, and I've wanted to give the money back the next day. So imagine the amount of money that he's been paid, right? It must be terrifying. … I just can’t think of the constant pressure. He can’t say, ‘I don’t feel like this,’ or, ‘It’s not worth it,’ because someone is saying, ‘You know, we’ve given you $50 million for this, and if it doesn’t get to No. 1, your career is over.’ He has that in his f--king head every minute of the day. I’m surprised he’s not stranger than he is.” 

Gervais then detailed how he deals with frustrating situations on set. “I want it to be a really happy set and that sort of ruins it because I've got to be funny. So, if I lose my temper, I've then got to be funny, and that's really hard,” he explained. “So I try not to ever do that, and if something goes wrong, I just — and I don't want to embarrass anyone or have bad blood — so I just sort of shout up to the sky. I go, ‘For f--k's sake,’ like that. And usually after, someone comes up to me and goes, ‘Oh, sorry. That was my fault.’ I'll go, ‘OK. Don't worry about it.’”

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George Clooney

The Oscar winner told Howard Stern on Wednesday, December 16, that Cruise “didn’t overreact because it is a problem” on sets. However, he would have handled the situation differently. 

“I wouldn’t have done it that big. I wouldn’t have, you know, pulled people out,” Clooney said. “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.” 

The Ocean’s Eleven star then defended Cruise’s intentions. “I understand why he did it,” he explained. “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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Hilarie Burton

The One Tree Hill alum applauded Cruise, tweeting on Wednesday, “I’ve never liked him more! Can I just blast this at the supermarket?”

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Patti Murin

The Broadway star pointed out the double standard. “Imagine the backlash if it had been any woman at all yelling and screaming instead of Tom Cruise,” she tweeted on Wednesday.

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Jacob Artist

“I’ve never liked Tom Cruise more,” the Glee alum wrote via Twitter on Wednesday, adding a mask emoji.

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Paula Pell

The actress applauded Cruise for saying what had been on her mind for months. “The Tom Cruise rant is 100 and also has been playing in my head on a loop since March,” she tweeted on Wednesday.

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Josh Gad

“Tom Cruise is correct here FYI,” the Frozen star wrote via Twitter on Tuesday. “Sorry/Not sorry.”