Tom Cruise stands by his tirade at members of the Mission: Impossible crew for breaking Covid-19 safety protocols.

The Hollywood action man was preparing to begin filming the seventh instalment when it got shut down in March last year due to the pandemic, and it resumed in July with strict safety guidelines in place, and in December, audio of him blasting two crew members for breaking social distancing in an expletive-filled rant went viral.

Breaking his silence about his rant for the first time during an interview with Empire magazine, Cruise stood by his outburst and pointed out that the production never got shut down again afterwards.

“It can get fraught. Fraught and personal,” he explained. “I said what I said. There was a surge happening in England also at that point. And there was a lot at stake at that point. But it wasn’t (in front of) my entire crew. I had the crew leave the set, and it was just select people. And the wonderful thing is that we never shut down again. And here we are, continuing to film.”

Adding that the production’s two previous Covid-related delays fuelled his rant, he said, “All those emotions were going through my mind. I was thinking about the people I work with, and my industry. And for the whole crew to know that we’d started rolling on a movie was just a huge relief.”

In the audio, Cruise can be heard yelling, “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.”

Elsewhere in the Empire interview, the Jerry Maguire star shared that he was determined to get the production back up and running because he was well aware that he’s responsible for thousands of jobs.

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