At the War of the Worlds premiere in 2005, Tom Cruise told off a Channel 4 prankster for squirting water in his face, and his reaction has split the internet
Tom Cruise is obviously not a fan of pranks according to a 2005 video of him getting pranked by a Channel 4 reporter.
In the video, Cruise is walking the red carpet for the premiere of his movie War of the Worlds. He stops to do an interview, not realising the microphone in his face isn’t real. The microphone squirts water in his face, causing the actor to push the microphone away and say: “Why would you do that?”
“C’mere, why would you do that?” Cruise repeats as he pulls the man closer. Staffers at the premiere tried to move Cruise along, but he stopped them and continued to talk to the man.
Tom Cruise was not amused as the man sprayed water on his face
“What’s so funny about that? It’s ridiculous,” the Top Gun actor continued, his voice stayed monotone yet having a scolding tone.
The prankster seemed flustered and quick to apologise, but can’t be heard clearly over screaming fans. Cruise wasn’t having any of it, saying: “You like doing mean things to people?”
As Tom is wiping his face with a towel, the man tried walking away. But the Mission Impossible star stopped him, saying: “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.”
As the man finally walked away, looking distraught, hands came up to cover the camera but it was to no avail. The video ends with Cruise looking at the other members of the press, laughing and throwing his hands in the air saying: “Amazing.”
The minute and fifteen-second interaction is making its way around Twitter, causing a divide between users on whether or not Cruise was correct in his actions.
One Twitter user said: “Looking back, he’s absolutely spot on. Intense and a little repetitive, but standing up for himself calmly.”
But another user took it differently, seeing his calm demeanour as almost terrifying as she wrote: “The moment it happened, I felt scared.”
Another blamed the prankster, saying: “Do you think that guy doesn’t know his behaviour is wrong? He was trying to do a s***y prank on camera, for whatever reason.”
Some denied that it was a genuine reaction, saying “It’s gotta be staged.”