# Boycotting Tom Cruise **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795 "2008-12-11T23:51:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/81 "2008-12-13T05:11:31Z")
I don’t get the idea of boycotting TC’s movies for any reason aside from the fact you think he’s a cack actor. To be effective in this behavior you’d have to be sure to boycott all Scientology-related, -connected entertainment out there, and I imagine there are tons of them in all facets of the business. What if the key grip is one? Or the screenwriter? Cruise is a blithering idiot and a bore, but he isn’t the first guy with really bad ideas and little sense to find a microphone. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/82 "2008-12-13T05:52:06Z")
> [@jali](#): > > Have the boycotters all stopped watching “The Simpsons”? Yes, actually. As much because I got tired of it after about 10 years though. > [@](#): > > Refuse to contribute to **Elvis’** estate? I wouldn’t, anyway. > [@](#): > > No South Park? South Park had an episode dedicated to lamenting and bashing the “crazy cult” that Chef had joined, wherein they killed off the Chef character, after Isaac Hayes left the show due to Parker and Stone’s tweaking of Scientology’s nose in an earlier episode. I had stopped watching a couple of years before that, and haven’t picked up watching since, either. > [@](#): > > Do you change the channel so you won’t see reruns of “The King of Queens” or “That 70s Show”? Never watched them in the first place, 'cause they held no appeal for me. > [@](#): > > **Giovanni Ribisi** has a lot of work under his belt. Do you avoid watching everything he’s in? This one I kinda regret. I saw Ribisi in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and he was good in that. I can’t think of anything else I’ve seen him in. Knowing now he’s a Scieno kinda sucks. > [@](#): > > Even **Friends**? Never watched it. Never understood the love. > [@](#): > > Do you change the station so that you won’t hear \*\*Chakka Khan’s \*\* beautiful voice? How about **Beck’s**? I liked Chaka Khan when she was popular. When I was in middle school. That was over 20 years ago. I own Beck’s Odelay, and haven’t sought anything by him since. > [@](#): > > Is Scientology the reason for the boycott or is it just Tom Cruise? Apparently, entertainment endeavors undertaken by Scientologists aren’t my cup of tea. With the exception of the Simpsons (partially), and Beck, and Tom Cruise of course, there’s nothing on the list I’ve actively avoided due to knowing there was Scientology involved. And so far, I don’t feel I’m missing much. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/83 "2008-12-13T06:43:46Z")
I\*\* know\*\* this one’s gonna get me in trouble for two reasons: 1. It’s a mini-hijack (I seem to be “king” of those - especially my own!) 2. And Julia Roberts probably doesn’t deserve boycotting But I **do** boycott her films. “Why, Quasi?” 'Cause I think she married Lyle Lovett to get back at Sutherland, that’s why. What, they knew each other three weeks and she married the guy??? Okay, so they made it for two years. Big furry deal, I bet they were miserable ones for poor Lyle, who probably (being the gentleman that he is) went to her and said something like “Julia, honey. I don’t think this is gonna work. I’m on the road with my Large Band so much and you’re always on location, why don’t we split up for a while and see how things go?” At this point Julia was probably going **YESSSSSS!!!** in her brain and they ultimately divorced. Okay, Lyle isn’t what you’d call an Adonis, is he, even though he’s a hell of a nice and good guy? Flame me if you want, but I think Ol’ Julia said to herself, “I’ll show Kiefer, friggin’ in the riggin’ with that stripper! I’ll marry the ugliest guy I can find!”, and that’s what she did. Sorry, JR fans, but that’s how I see it, and since then, whenever possible, I have supported Mr. Lovett at any concert I could attend and any cd he releases. Q ---
**Author:** ![gang\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f07891/32.png) [@gang\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gang_green)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/84 "2008-12-13T06:43:57Z")
I’ve boycotted Tom Cruise forever. Scientology has nothing to do with it, though. Somewhere along the mid 90s, when he had a lot of big movies coming out, I realized I’d never seen any of his films. This was kind of significant, since I was working at a movie memorabilia store at the time. I decided, just for the hell of it, to never see “a Tom Cruise movie.” I’d be one of the few people in the English speaking world to never see a movie with him in it. As I don’t expect I’ll stand out in any other way, it seemed as good a distinction as any. I can’t say I’ve totally succeeded. I saw about 15 minutes of one of his early efforts, something with whatshername from Cheers, where they go to Mexico or something, and I did see Goldmember (which can’t really be called a Tom Cruise movie…can it?). But I can say that I have never seen any of his starring roles. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/85 "2008-12-13T06:58:25Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I’m at boycott fatigue, so I don’t boycott Cruise. However, aside from the Mission Impossible movies, he hasn’t been in any movies in over a decade that I’ve been interested to see. I probably would have seen **War of the Worlds** if the reviews hadn’t been so awful. [They weren’t.](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_of_the_worlds/) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/86 "2008-12-13T09:34:02Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > [They weren’t.](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_of_the_worlds/) [were.](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050628/REVIEWS/50606007) Typical Spielberg. And I don’t mean that as a compliment. And Tom Cruise plays himself again which doesn’t add anything to it. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/87 "2008-12-13T09:37:31Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Well, I couldn’t care less about the Scientology angle, but I feel that there’s good cause to boycott his movies because of his beliefs about mental illness. And yeah, someone who might look to him for guidence in that is obviously very screwed, which is part of the problem and the reason why it’s not good to have an idiot spouting bullshit about it. There’s enough misinformation and stigma out there as it is without more be added to the mix by someone that famous and ‘looked up to.’ > > Oh, and I’ll say the man _can_ act (like in Magnolia), but it’s not worth it to do so by knowingly contributing his wrong-headed diatribes. I don’t know the whole idea of boycotting an _actor_ for how he believes about mental illness is pretty damn foreign to me. I mean sure he’s a crappy actor, but why does it matter what he believes about mental illness? Man, every step of life these days is a battlefield in the culture war isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![MadJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3d9bf3/32.png) [@MadJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadJack)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/88 "2008-12-13T13:11:49Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Way to limit your options. The Left behind series is probably all you can watch. > 😃 > > I liked Collateral and Mission impossible 3 (Best in the series) and i don’t really care what kind of nut job Tom Cruise is. Besides, people who take medical advice from Tom Cruise are the kind of people who lick electrical outlets anyway, so no big loss. There are always the “movies” made by mormons… ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/89 "2008-12-13T16:28:13Z")
mswas asked: “why does it matter what he believes about mental illness?” It matters because he got on TV and spouted off about it, that’s why. Perhaps other actors believe other, even crazier things. But they didn’t take advantage of their celebrity to broadcast such idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![Duhkecco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/90 "2008-12-13T16:34:55Z")
So, maybe you should boycott NBC for broadcasting the interview. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/91 "2008-12-13T16:54:17Z")
No, Duhkecco. Let me elaborate - I’m not against free speech, even by Tom Cruise. But I don’t have to support him with my ticket money and I think the stuff he spouts is harmful to mentally ill people who might listen to him. so I hope NBC runs more factual stuff too. ---
**Author:** ![Duhkecco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/92 "2008-12-13T17:04:59Z")
Okay, but if NBC hadn’t broadcast the interview, what harm would Tom Cruise have done to mentally ill people? Actually, what harm did he do? And, do you boycott everyone who could have \*possibly \*harmed someone? It seems to me that those who are boycotting Cruise are doing so because they don’t like him, not because of some thorough cost/benefit analysis of the effect of his comments on society. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/93 "2008-12-13T17:34:38Z")
Well, yeah, I don’t like him cause of his involvement with Scientology & its particular beliefs re psychiatry among other things. Duhkecco, I think you’re splitting hairs. I always said I boycott him because I don’t like him, etc, but someone upthread Asked what was so wrong with his Scieno beliefs, and I answered. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/94 "2008-12-13T18:42:03Z")
> [@](#): > > So? Just because they’re both religious groups they should be treated equally, without regard for their actions? > > When we call the Church of Scientology a criminal organisation, we literally mean that highly placed executives, including the founder’s wife, have in the past been convicted of crimes against the United States. Was Tom Cruise ever convicted of any felonies? Would it be acceptable of me to boycott “Jewish” movies if I was doing it as a protest against crimes committed by Leon Trotsky and Meyer Lansky? ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/95 "2008-12-13T19:15:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Was Tom Cruise ever convicted of any felonies? Would it be acceptable of me to boycott “Jewish” movies if I was doing it as a protest against crimes committed by Leon Trotsky and Meyer Lansky? Whoa, Lansky and Trotsky were founders and/or highly placed representatives of Judaism? Oy, I definitely need to reread the Torah, 'cause that shit totally escaped me! I don’t dislike all Scientologists - I think many of them are deluded and possibly the victims of extortion due to that infamous ‘psychological screening’ process. Most of 'em get a pass. But Tom Cruise’s huge role in the Scientology media machine, and especially his attitude re: psychology and post-partum illness, appall and disgust me, so I find it difficult to stomach him in interviews or get past his personality when viewing many of his roles. I wouldn’t call it a flat-out boycott; if he is ever in a movie with other actors I love, made by a director and/or writer I admire, with a subject that intrigues me, I might view it.\* It’s just a matter of asking myself: “will my distaste toward this asshat be outweighed by my enjoyment of the other factors in the film?” - So far, that hasn’t been tested so much lately. Though I did think _Jerry McGuire_ was cute back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/96 "2008-12-13T22:08:35Z")
Don’t build a strawman. I’m saying it’s wrong to blame one person for the actions of somebody else just because they share the same religious beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/97 "2008-12-13T23:36:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Was Tom Cruise ever convicted of any felonies? Would it be acceptable of me to boycott “Jewish” movies if I was doing it as a protest against crimes committed by Leon Trotsky and Meyer Lansky? > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Don’t build a strawman. I’m saying it’s wrong to blame one person for the actions of somebody else just because they share the same religious beliefs. Er, _I’m_ building the strawman? Aren’t you the one who brought up Lansky and Trotsky/Judaism as possible equivalents to Cruise/Scientology? Most people here have said over and over that Cruise isn’t just someone who ‘shares the same religious beliefs’ as Scientologists: he’s at the top of the organization, pretty much the _face_ of Scientology as its most prominent, outspoken spokesperson. He’s also gone on record with its woo-woo fearmongering of psychology/psychiatry, such as when he infamously criticized Brooke Shields for taking medication for her post-partum depression, which he derided as not being a real illness. This is all Scientology dogma, but not all Scientologists spew this crap the way Cruise does, so (to me) they are less repulsive than Cruise, who has used his bully pulpit to further the Scienos’ beliefs. If Lansky and Trotsky held equivalent positions upholding Jewish beliefs, your comparison would’ve been apt. But they didn’t so it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/98 "2008-12-14T05:06:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Was Tom Cruise ever convicted of any felonies? Would it be acceptable of me to boycott “Jewish” movies if I was doing it as a protest against crimes committed by Leon Trotsky and Meyer Lansky? Do Jews donate money to Lansky and his mafia as part of their religion? I’m guessing not. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/99 "2008-12-14T05:30:33Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > I’ve seen in mentioned in a couple of threads on here over the last couple of days that some members refuse to see (or at least refuse to PAY to see) any Tom Cruise movie. > > What is all the hate about? One doper referred to him as a $cientologist, but otherwise there wasn’t much elaboration as to reasons. > > The guy has seemed a bit off his rocker the last couple years when off-screen, however unlike some people who get boycotted in the entertainment industry, he hasn’t or isn’t out to hurt anyone, as far as I know, and doesn’t even push his agendas into any of his movies. Would the same thing be said for dopers who don’t want to see a certain actor’s movie because he’s a ¢hristian? Rather than speculate further, I’d just like to hear your reasonings. I don’t get it either. I think Tom Cruise is a very good actor when he wants to be, the claims against him because of his religion (and, yes, I know that Scientology is stupid and cultlike) make me rather :dubious: , and let’s face it: Brooke Shields made her post-partum depression and its treatment news long before Tom Cruise discussed it. She’s a public figure, she wrote a book about her pregnancy, and what, she thinks she gets a pass from _any_ criticism? I think Cruise is a bit of a kook, and he’s obviously wrong about a number of things, but I can’t condemn his talent because of his beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795/100 "2008-12-14T05:39:13Z")
My favorite TC movies: War of the Worlds (a film I watch with my daughter constantly (it’s one of her favorite movies)) Magnolia Collateral Tropic Thunder Jerry Maguire Born on the Fourth of July [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boycotting-tom-cruise/476795.md?page=6)