Tom Cruise opens up about his leaked COVID rant to 'Mission: Impossible 7' crew

Hollywood star Tom Cruise recently addressed his viral coronavirus rant which got leaked in December. The actor was heard yelling about COVID-19 safety protocols in the leaked audio while speaking to the crew of his upcoming movie 'Mission: Impossible 7'. According to Fox News, the 58-year-old actor has now addressed why he felt the need to say what he said. Cruise told the outlet, "I said what I said. There was a lot at stake at that point. But it wasn't my entire crew. I had the crew leave the set, and it was just select people."

Cruise went on to explain how filming was never shut down again despite the pandemic saying, "And here we are, continuing to film." Talking more about the instance he added, "All those emotions were going through my mind. And for the whole crew to know that we'd started rolling on a movie was just a huge relief... It was very emotional."

In the leaked audio, Cruise could be heard yelling about crew members reportedly not following social distancing rules. He had said, "If I see you do it again, you're f-king 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-king do it again. They're back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherf-kers."

Cruise continued in the audio, "That's it. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their f-king homes because our industry is shut down. We are not shutting this f-king movie down. Is it understood? If I see it again, you're f-king gone." As per Fox News, Cruise claimed at the time that he was in close contact with studios, insurance companies and producers to set what he called a "gold standard" of filming amid the pandemic.

In September, reportedly Cruise paid USD 700,000 for the cast and crew of the film to live on cruise ships in hopes of creating a safe bubble for the team to work in order to thwart any risk of a breakout.