Pranking often comes with the chance that you’ll receive a reaction you’re not expecting, but if it’s a celeb telling you off, it’s even worse.
This is why Tom Cruise’s stern words to a prankster on the red carpet continues to divide viewers almost two decades on.
It was all the way back in 2005 when the star was talking to media at the London premiere for Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds.
A Channel 4 prankster posing as a reporter decided it was his shot to get Cruise a little wet in the face as part of a gag.
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So, when the time came for the actor to walk up and provide an interview, he was shot in the face with a stream of water from the microphone.
Evidently shocked and more than a little annoyed, he asked the man ‘why would you do that’, and quickly batted away the trick item before pulling the prankster forward.
The Top Gun star was understandably not happy to have fallen victim to the prank in front of so many people and let loose on the guy.
Cruise asked: “What’s so funny about that?”
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“It’s ridiculous,” he added.
As the joker seemed to apologise and try to defend himself, the actor still didn’t seem to see the funny side of the prank.
He said: “You like doing mean things to people?”
The Mission Impossible frontman had his face wiped with a towel and didn’t let the prankster try to walk away.
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He said: “Hey, hey, no, no, don’t run away.
“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. You know what, you’re a jerk.”
At the time of the incident, Cruise’s response left divided people as many thought he was in the right, while others believed he was well out of order.
Some X, formerly Twitter, users said he said ‘nothing wrong’ in his response to the prank, is ‘absolutely right’ and that: “Childish behaviour calls for being spoken to like a child.”
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One also wrote: “I don’t even like Tom Cruise but he’s spot on here.”
The awkward interview moment still lives on almost two decades later.
However, one put: “The moment it happened, I felt scared. Tom Cruise seems very nice a lot of the time, but you just would not f**k with him.”
Another wrote: “He’s honestly terrifying.”
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And someone else said: “He’s not wrong at all but I mean it’s a bit of water, it’s not that deep.”
Channel 4 ended up releasing an apology to Cruise after the incident as according to the broadcaster, it was just meant to be ‘light-hearted’ for some comedy.
"The stunt was intended to be light-hearted rather than malicious and we would apologise to Mr Cruise for any offence that was caused," Channel 4 said in a statement.
"The incident that took place on Sunday evening involving Tom Cruise was for a new Channel 4 entertainment show, part of which involves playing light-hearted comedy pranks on celebrities and members of the public."
Well, let’s hope that there’s no more red-carpet funny business with Cruise from now on, especially with all the hype from Top Gun: Maverick dropping on Netflix on Friday (22 March).
Leave the man alone!
Topics: Celebrity, Netflix, Tom Cruise, Top Gun, YouTube, TV and Film
Britt Jones