George Clooney says Tom Cruise 'didn't overreact' with Covid-19 rant but he would have different approach

One of Hollywood's biggest stars has spoken up about Tom Cruise's viral Covid-19 rant and he is coming to the latter's defense.

On Howard Stern's radio show today (Dec 17), George Clooney said: "He (Tom) didn't overreact because it is a problem. I have a friend who's an AD (assistant director) on another TV show who just had the almost exact same thing happen with not quite as far out a response."

The 59-year-old star was on the show to promote his new film Midnight Sky.

For those who are unaware, it was reported by The Sun that Tom let loose a profanity-filled rant on the London set of the new Mission: Impossible film as crew members had apparently breached Covid-19 safety protocols by standing too close together.

In an audio clip obtained by The Sun, and which was verified by a source close to the production, the Hollywood actor can be heard yelling: "If I see you doing it again, you're f****** gone. And if anyone in this crew does it, that's it. And you too and you too. And you, don't you ever f****** do it again."

"I'm on the phone with every f****** studio at night, insurance companies, producers, and they're looking at us and using us to make their movies," Cruise apparently told the crew.

He added: "Do you understand the responsibility that you have? Because I will deal with your reason. And if you can't be reasonable and I can't deal with your logic, you're fired."

However, though the rant was justified, George also confessed that he would have approached the situation differently.

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He explained: "You're in a position of power and it's tricky. You do have a responsibility for everybody else and he's absolutely right about that. 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.

"I think it doesn't help necessarily to point to specific people in that way and do that…but, you know, everybody has their own style. The people who were on that shoot will tell us more about it. I understand why he did it. 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."

It seems that tension is still brewing over at the Mission: Impossible set though as The Sun also broke the news earlier today that five crew members have quit since Tom's tirade.

A source told the UK tabloid: "The first outburst was big but things haven't calmed since. Tension has been building for months and this was the final straw. Since it became public there has been more anger and several staff have walked."

bryanlim@asiaone.com