Confession Impossible: Tom Cruise Is Never Asked About Scientology

August 3rd, 2015 6:57 AM

On Monday, Emily Yahr at The Washington Post pointed out one group of privileged Americans who are never asked tough questions on television "news" shows about their personal behavior: bankable movie stars and musicians. Yahr's most prominent example is Tom Cruise, now doing an interview tour for his new film Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, but facing no questions about his prominent place in the "church" of Scientology.

[S]everal months after HBO’s Scientology documentary Going Clear accused the church (and by extension Cruise, its most famous member) of some horrific behavior. The church denied everything, yet Cruise hasn’t been able to answer or dodge any questions about the film — because he hasn’t been asked about it at all.

It’s the extremely obvious elephant in the room and it’s impossible to overlook. Earlier this week, TheWrap reported that reporters are banned from asking Cruise about his dating life or Scientology. “At the very least, Cruise is the highest-profile advocate for an institution that’s been repeatedly charged with human-rights abuses over the past few decades,” The Atlantic’s Sophie Gilbert wrote. “If [accounts] are accurate, he’s the second most-powerful person in Scientology, and he’s completely insulated from even the most irreverent television personalities in the country asking him questions about it.”

Gilbert points out the strangeness of The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, a master at calling out hypocrisy, interviewing Cruise this week and completely gliding over the topic, instead bantering about workout routines. That puzzle, of course, is quickly solved by the fact that Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures (which produces Mission Impossible) are both owned by Viacom. It’s the same reason why embattled NBC Universal stars want to stick to the NBC’s Today show — shared corporate overlords make these situations much easier.

However, as weird as it is to see Stewart (of all people) avoid tough questions, or Cruise pretend that the Scientology stories aren’t happening, none of this should be that shocking. This is frequent, common practice in every aspect of the entertainment industry. When it comes to big stars, some publicists are militant in keeping a list of banned subjects you absolutely cannot ask about. There’s a tacit — and sometimes explicit — agreement between celebrities and infotainment programs not to upset the delicate balance of everyone needing publicity and viewers.

Actually, it's not "weird" at all to see Jon Stewart fail to ask tough questions. Hasn't Yahr seen him interview the president? It only underscores that Stewart is overrated as Speaking Truth to Power. He's still a good corporate soldier for Viacom. And he's not the only one, as Yahr noted: "50 Cent stopped by The Nightly Show and Larry Wilmore and never had to answer any questions about his recent $5 million judgment for releasing a couple’s sex tape."

Yahr wrote it's considered "unprofessional" even to joke about the list of demands that celebrities make to stick to their talking points, and reminded readers of the time singer Chris Brown shattered a window in the Good Morning America dressing room after Robin Roberts "apparently broke an agreement and asked about his domestic violence against Rihanna."

“When I do shows or when I do interviews, we always send out . . . a talking points sheet,” Brown later explained, apologizing for his outburst. “And if the network or whoever isn’t complying with what we want to do — so we can equally accomplish a goal — we usually kind of back out and wait until it’s a better situation.”

So the networks might want to go easy on the charge that our political leaders aren't held accountable. They can't even ask basic questions of a pop star or movie star.