Now Tom Cruise doesn’t like squirrels.
In a new online report from US Weekly, Cruise is overheard calling protesters outside a big Scientology gala in England “squirrels.”
The diminutive star of “Lions for Lambs” and “Valkyrie” attended the annual fest for the religious sect with wife Katie Holmes, a former devout Catholic, and their overpublicized three year old daughter, Suri.
Also at the event were John Travolta and Kelly Preston, on leave from their trial in the Bahamas against two people they claim tried to extort money from them after their son Jett died at the beginning of this year. The Travoltas’ presence certainly shows that rumors of their potential withdrawal from Scientology aren’t true. For years the Travoltas refused to admit that Jett was autistic, claiming he had Kawasaki’s Disease. It was only revealed in police reports after Jett’s death, and during the trial via Travolta’s testimony, that Jett was indeed autistic. Scientology has troubling policies regarding psychiatry and mental illnesses.
According to US Weekly, Cruise spoke with his usual fervor to the assembled followers, much like previously posted videos on YouTube. Afterward, he was heard “angrily” calling protestesters outside “Squirrels.” Cruise told a fellow American they were: “Stuck in an electronic incident. It makes me so angry!”
Cruise does not like anyone who questions the controversial group. In a 2004 interview with Rolling Stone, he told writer Neil Strauss: “Who are those people that say those things? Because I promise you, it isn’t everybody. But I look at those people and I say, ‘Bring it. I’m a Scientologist, man. What do you want to know?’ I don’t mind answering questions.”
Interestingly, both Rolling Stone and US Weekly are each owned by Jann Wenner, Cruise and Travolta’s former close pal. In days of yore, Rolling Stone always got first crack at magazine covers for either star. But since the 2004 Strauss piece, those relationships seem to have cooled considerably.
October 21st, 2009 at 9:21 am
By the way, autism is not a mental illness. It is a development disorder. There is a difference.
October 21st, 2009 at 9:26 am
For more info on the “squirrel” terminology, see the Aug 24 Gawker post “Scientology Jargon in Action: Squirrels, Locationals and Time Tracks” (w/ video)
October 21st, 2009 at 4:43 pm
say what you want about cruise, roger. you’ve always been bitter and you always hated him.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:59 am
And once again, more opinionated reporting by someone not even worthy of being called a ‘reporter’. Get a real job
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Tom is such a wanker. I wonder how much he gave um, I mean “donated” tax free to the IAS war chest this time? Lawlsuits and lawlyers for his cult don’t come cheap ya know
October 27th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
“Squirrel” is indeed a derogatory Scientology term for an enemy or a negative person, not just or necessarily someone who is anti-Scientology but anyone who is not a positive member of your team and hoping/working for you to succeed. Like many self-help or motivational philosophies, it counsels you to see if your friends and associates really do want you to succeed or perhaps are holding you back consciously or not and to remove these “squirrels” from your life. More controversially, in the Seventies and early Eighties, squirrels would be referred to as fair game or basically subhuman, hence the demeaning animalistic term. Scientology has distanced itself from such interpretations in recent years.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Michael in New York is describing more of what Scientologists call a “Suppressive Person.” What they call a “Squirrel” is somebody who alters Scientology in some way, either the practices of it or the written materials. All those people involved in so-called “independent scientology” or “Freezone” would be called squirrels by Scientologists.
As for why ol’ Tom Cruise would call a bunch of protesters squirrels is beyond me. Perhaps he has a misunderstood word