Hitting too close to home: The ‘South Park’ episode Tom Cruise demanded to be pulled
Ever since the infamous couch-jumping debacle on Oprah, Tom Cruise has become increasingly guarded when it comes to discussing anything that isn’t directly related to his day job as one of the biggest movie stars in the business.
Having ruffled feathers by criticising Brooke Shields when attempting to debunk the merits of psychiatry and celebrate the methods of Scientology in one fell and very ill-advised swoop, too, it’s been widely reported that whenever Cruise hits the press trail to promote his latest or upcoming projects, any questions relating to his personal life are strictly off-limits.
Of course, there’s nothing he could do about South Park lampooning him in the notorious ‘Trapped in the Closet’ episode, or was there? Originally airing in November 2005 – not too long after the Oprah incident when Cruise’s reputation had taken a significant hit – the story finds Stan being accepted by leading figures of the Scientologist organisation as the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard.
Known Scientologist Isaac Hayes ended up quitting the show months later in protest at South Park‘s treatment of his religion, something creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone understandably viewed as hypocritical considering nothing had been off-limits for the crude Colorado kids up until the point the Chef voice actor determined a line had been crossed.
In Cruise’s case, the threat of litigation was potentially looming from the second it aired, and only partly because he’s featured quite literally emerging from a closet. The A-lister has been known to take legal action against rumours of his sexuality, but at least in this case he didn’t sue South Park.
On the other hand, when ‘Trapped in the Closet’ was due to be re-aired on Comedy Central in March 2006, it was abruptly pulled from the schedule. Naturally, scuttlebutt began to emerge claiming Cruise had used his standing to strongarm the rerun from making the airwaves.
Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, which is also the parent company of Paramount, the studio where Cruise had spent years as its most marketable asset. ‘Trapped in the Closet’ was also set to return to screens shortly before Mission: Impossible III hit cinemas, and part of the action sequel’s remit was to try and rehabilitate the leading man’s image.
It was never publicly confirmed by either Comedy Central, Viacom, Paramount, or Cruise himself, but the inferences are clear as day. In typical fashion, Parker and Stone released a statement reacting to the abrupt cancellation of ‘Trapped in the Closet’, where they referred to themselves as “servants of the dark lord Xenu.”
“Temporarily anozinizing our episode will not stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies,” they wrote. “Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!” Suffice to say, they didn’t take it particularly seriously.