Tom Cruise assault coverage by ET

Since Mr. Spocko is somewhat of a intragalactic celebrity himself, he occasionally feels the need to stand up for the mere earth-wide celebrities. After seeing the recent assault on one of your famous celebrities I wrote this letter to the producers of Entertainment Tonight and to a celebrity columnist at Salon:

Dear ET:

I don't want to over react but I also don’t want to UNDER react to this event. They squirted him with water. They could have just as easily squirted him with pepper spray, blood, urine, toxic chemicals, bleach or acid

Celebrities have been shot and killed by "fans", so it isn't absurd to see this event as a serious breach of security. I think that Mr. Cruise handled himself in a very restrained way. Put yourself in his position. Would you have gotten visibly pissed? Yelled? Pushed? Punched? Filled charges? Changed the screening procedures for the press that are allowed on the line?

These people's actions should be CONDEMNED by the celebrity press and by right thinking photographers everywhere. This "innocent" prank show shouldn't see the light of day on Channel 4. Since Mr. Cruise didn’t file charges, then the people in the press around him should. If they don't, they are giving tacit approval to these actions. The "Anything for a reaction!" attitude encourages this and is asking for copy cats and escalation, especially if there isn't some legal action taken. By not addressing this seriously the celebrity followers in the media (that's you ET) are going to make it harder and harder to get access to the stars. Who do you want to protect? Jerks out to do damage to your reputation or the stars who are your bread and butter? Maybe you owe it to Mr. Cruise and all of your celebrity watchers to pursue this matter FOR him.

Now some people might think, "Oh it's just a funny joke, lighten up Francis", but then they probably haven't received multiple death treats or been followed by multiple crazy stalkers. Celebrities like Mr. Cruise don't want to appear fan unfriendly, so he might not have sued simply because of that angle. He doesn't want to be a "bad sport", but if the photographers and media don't step up and say, "This is wrong, Tom SHOULD HAVE SUED and we will support him in a law suit", they are complicit in this and future acts that might be much worse.

Sincerely,

Mr. Spocko (Last name unpronounceable by humans)
Star Fleet Academy
San Francisco, CA

P.S. I am neither a fan of Mr. Cruise, nor his off screen personal activities; I simply point this out as a very clear current example of an activity that has gone beyond the pale. I would have said the same thing if the celebrity was someone I liked.

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Now just to show that I can appreciate a clever attempt at humor involving Mr. Cruise I give you this video clip

Tom Cruise Kills Oprah: The Movie
Thanks to Waxy.org for hosting and John Paczkowski of Good Morning Silicon Valley for the tip.
{typos fixed 6-23-2005. Thanks for spotting them Sage Potato head!

Note: I haven't heard back from any of the folks at Entertainment Tonight. Clearly they got their 13 seconds of footage and have moved on to the next prank and feel no need to comment on the act. Remember, your failure to comment ET when the next celebrity is injured. Of course an injured celebrity is simply more fodder for your show, so why should you care to even bother doing even the most minimal work of condemning the bad acts of the "Pranksters"?)