Earlier today, Fox News and TMZ ran a story with the inflammatory headline “Tom Cruise: My work is as hard as fighting in Afghanistan.” It’s a great, inflammatory headline, and it has been posted all over Facebook.
The problem is it’s not true. You shouldn’t be surprised even for a second that TMZ (or Fox News for that matter) would expand on the truth a little bit, but here are the hard facts: Tom Cruise never said that his work was as hard as fighting in Afghanistan. The statement that TMZ and Fox are reporting on was made during a deposition – Cruise is suing a publishing company for defamation, because they said he “abandoned” his daughter during and after his divorce from Katie Holmes. As a part of that deposition, Tom Cruise’s lawyers compared his filming schedule to being deployed over-seas. Here’s the actual series of quotes from the deposition, which is available online for anyone interested.
Lawyer: Now, your counsel has publicly equated your absence from Suri for these extended periods of time as being analogous to someone fighting in Afghanistan. Are you aware of that?
Mr. Fields (Tom Cruise’s lawyer): Object to the form of the question, you may answer.
Tom Cruise: I didn’t hear the Afghanistan, but that’s what it feels like, and certainly on this last movie, it was brutal.
Lawyer: Do you believe that the situations are the same?
Cruise: Oh come on, you know, we’re making a movie.
So, the actual facts are: Lawyer says to Tom Cruise that Cruise’s lawyers have compared his absence from Suri to being in Afghanistan, Tom Cruise says he didn’t hear the Afghanistan part, but yes being away from your daughter for a long time does suck.
The story kind of changes when you actually have the facts, doesn’t it? Too bad Fox News and TMZ weren’t interested in doing any actual reporting. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am disappointed at how gleefully people have jumped on this without bothering to do the least bit of fact checking at all.
Pesky little facts once again get in the way of an otherwise perfectly sensational story. I do not care for Tom Cruise. But I do care for the facts. And even Mr. Cruise deserves to be the recipient of factual treatment. Thanks, Caleb, for being willing to call out Fox News on false reporting, when so many in the firearms community are hesitant to criticize them for anything.
I’m not a fan of Cruise, but I am a fan of the truth. Somehow that all got shoved to the side by the media in these political times. I don’t want to sound naïve, like it didn’t happen in the past, it’s just so overt now. No shame on either side.
Cruise didn’t say what you said, either. You said “Tom Cruise says he didn’t hear the Afghanistan part, but yes being away from your daughter for a long time does suck.” He didn’t say that, YOU said he said that. So you’re as guilty as TMZ and Fox. Facts, not conjecture, would be better.
Wayne, I printed exactly what Cruise said. I also read the entire deposition, so I understood the context (which is important) of what was being discussed.
Don’t really care what a celeb says to be honest. Reading your three quotes, it seems Cruise was presented with a leading question, counsel protest, andthen he agreed with the lead. The leading question places him in Afghanistan fighting in combat, he agrees that it’s like combat. You could squeeze that quote till it was a mile long. You’re right, they’re right.
Stop interrupting a perfectly good witch burning with your pesky facts!
hahahhaha
If any one read the last statement by cruise, yes he didn’t hear the afghan statement but he also said but that’s what it feels like this last movie was brutal. So in a roundabout way he was comparing his acting to afghan
It’s still kind of bogus to equate the two. I mean he probably had access to instant communication both voice and video, and could travel freely on frequent breaks, plus could have his family come visit him if he wanted them to. Further more, the headlines always try to get people hooked. That’s the point of a headline.