George Clooney Defends Tom Cruise’s Viral Rant On The Mission: Impossible 7 Set: “I Understand Why He Did It”

George Clooney has defended Tom Cruise after he was caught on tape going ballistic at the crew of Mission: Impossible 7 for flouting COVID-19 protocols.

In the leaked audio recording obtained by The Sun, Tom, who is both the star and producer of Mission: Impossible 7, is heard directing an expletive-laden tirade at two crew members after they huddled around a computer monitor without observing safe-distance guidelines.

The incident happened during filming at Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire on Tuesday (Dec 15).

Speaking to shock jock Howard Stern on SiriusXM, while promoting his new movie, The Midnight Sky, George said Tom “didn’t overact because it is a problem.” He continued, “I have a friend who’s an [assistant director] on another TV show who just had the almost exact same thing happen with not quite as far out a response.”

But George said that if he were in a similar situation as Tom, he would have done things differently. He elaborated, "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.”

George isn’t the only one who thinks Tom’s outburst is warranted. “Tom Cruise is correct here FYI. Sorry/Not sorry," Beauty and the Beast star Josh Gad tweeted.

She continued, "When you see something on a set that is sort of dangerous as people not taking this seriously you do go off, you do get crazy. You think people would know better.”

Another supporter is A Wrinkle in Time director Ava DuVernay.

"If you’ve shot during the pandemic, you know the Herculean effort it is to keep a project going within Covid protocols," Ava tweeted. “Then some dude doesn’t wanna wear his shield? Nah. Been there. Felt the rage.”

But like George, Ava would not have gone nuclear on the crew. She added, “Also: If I did that on set, I'd be directing icing videos for the local bakery.”

An insider told The Sun: “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.

“But Tom just can’t take any more after all the lengths they have gone to just to keep filming at all. He’s upset others aren’t taking it as seriously as him.”

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