Tom Cruise's chilling response to a red carpet prank still has fans scared years later: "He’s terrifying..."
Looks like Tom Cruise isn’t a fan of playing pranks or pulling any tricks! In 2005, Cruise was seen interacting with media at the London premiere of his sci-fi action film 'War of the Worlds' directed by Steven Spielberg. During the interview, a Channel 4 prankster posing as a reporter tried to splash Tom Cruise with water. As Cruise arrived, he was taken aback when a stream of water shot at his face from the microphone. Needless to say, the prank left Cruise frustrated and clearly irritated. "Why would you do that?" Cruise asked the man, according to Lad Bible.
The 'Top Gun' star wasn’t at all amused by the "light-hearted comedy prank." He immediately confronted the prankster, saying, "What’s so funny about that? It’s ridiculous." When the man apologized and tried to defend his actions, Cruise wasn’t having it. "You like doing mean things to people?" Cruise fired back. He then wiped his face with a towel, making it clear he wasn’t about to let the prankster off easily. "Don’t run away, it’s incredibly rude. I’m here giving you an interview and answering your questions and you do something really nasty. You’re a jerk. You’re a jerk. You know what, you’re a jerk," Cruise snapped at him.
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At that time, Cruise's response to the prank was met with mixed reactions from the viewers. One social media user wrote, “I don’t even like Tom Cruise but he’s spot on here," meanwhile another user fan said, “The moment it happened, I felt scared. Tom Cruise seems very nice a lot of the time, but you just would not f**k with him.” A third fan quipped, "He’s not wrong at all but I mean it’s a bit of water, it’s not that deep.” Followed by a fourth user who commented, "He’s honestly terrifying."
As per The Guardian, Channel 4 issued a personal apology to Cruise following the incident. The official statement released by the channel read, "The stunt was intended to be light-hearted rather than malicious and we would apologise to Mr Cruise for any offence that was caused. The incident that took place on Sunday evening involving Tom Cruise was for a new Channel 4 entertainment show, part of which involves playing light-hearted comedy pranks on celebrities and members of the public."
As the clip spread, a media outlet reported that the channel might never air the footage. "The tape is with the police. No decision has been made whether it will air," a spokesman from the network told the publication. We can imagine that next time, any reporter will think twice before pranking Cruise.