Anyone else see "Ed" last night?? http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/chadslater1.shtml He's probably going to have a hard time collecting it, but Tom Cruise has just won a $10 million default judgment against a Hollywood man who claimed to be the actor's gay lover. In May 2001, Cruise filed the below $100 million defamation lawsuit against Chad Slater, a porno actor whom, the complaint alleged, claimed in a magazine interview to have been involved in a "continuing homosexual affair with Tom Cruise and that this affair was discovered by Mr. Cruise's wife, leading to their divorce." The complaint flatly states, "Tom Cruise is not and has never been a homosexual." When Slater--who is known professionally as Kyle Bradford--last year defaulted on the lawsuit, Cruise filed a request in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking a $10 million judgment against Slater (who has been described in various press accounts as a professional "erotic wrestler"). Judge Ernest Williams late last month formally approved Cruise's application for the $10 million default judgment against Slater, with the actor's victory being announced today (1/15) by Cruise's legal team. (5 pages)
I didn't see Ed last night, but there's a good article somewhere on www.cnn.com about the fat dude's surgery.
Man...I sure am glad that old Tom won $10M. I was getting worried about what he'd do to feed himself in his retirement years.
Ed's client claimed he wasn't gay..but his sister claimed he was. So the sister, in an effort to get him out of the closet, which she said would make him happier, took out in ad in a local paper with his picture and a big caption saying, "i'm gay!" Of course Ed won...he sued for invasion of privacy.
How worried are you about your sexuality when you file a $10M lawsuit when someone says you're gay? Hilarious. I guess he has to spend every dollar in some manly-man hetero-affirming acitivity, if he filed for damages. That'll fund a lot of trips into the woods to find his inner spirit animal or primal warrior, a lot of trips to titty bars, and a lot of monster truck rally tickets.
A movie star like Cruise can't come out and say he's gay. Don't you know there are still many Americans who don't accept homosexuality and if someone like him is proven gay, it will hurt him directly in the pocket book because he will lose a lot of fans. Imagine if Russell Crowe said he was gay, do you think "Gladiator" would have made so much money?
I agree with you 100%. If the general public believed that Tom Cruise were gay, his stock as a male action star would go down the tubes. So much of his box office appeal for women is that he is a very attractive heterosexual male and for men its that he can be a bad ass tough guy that gets all of the hot chicks in movies like Mission Impossilbe.
Okay, I was just goofing around, as usual, but I'll take this seriously for a moment. Once you're fabulously wealthy like Tom Cruise and get "accused" of being gay, there are several options. 1) Tom is gay, and could make a solid public stand for being out, for telling the world it ain't a big deal, just his preference. 2) Tom is not gay, but could make a solid public stand for telling the world it ain't a big deal, just somebody's preference. 3) Tom is gay, but wants to send the message that it's something to be ashamed of (and make a few more million $). 4) Tom is not gay, but wants to send the message that it's something to be ashamed of (and a few more million $). Great, he has chosen #3 or #4. I judge that harshly, but I'm not in the public eye and I don't have millions to lose with such decisions, that's for sure.
Oh, yeah, Ian McKellan really dragged down the box office for LOTR and X-Men by being openly gay. Will & Grace must surely be last in the Nielsen ratings for having gay plotlines. Cruise went ahead with the lawsuit because he was being slandered, plain and simple. It wouldn't have mattered what the p*rn star said, so long as it was blatantly false. If I went on record (in a national publication) as saying Carrot Top is a thieving, Nazi-rapist hooker with gonorrhea, I would probably get a nice (expected) lawsuit (even if it is just Carrot Top).
I'm not even going to comment on the stupidity of comparing Ian McKellan to Tom Cruise. I don't even know who that is. As far as Will and Grace is concerned, I understand that show has a gay character. Do you think the same actor could get a role like Cruise's character in "Top Gun" or "Mission Impossible". Do you really believe Hollywood is going to give a professed gay male those roles?
Sorry, VS, but this is just my point. Why exactly is being called gay slander? Is being called red-colored, or being called female slander? Look at what you compared the label of "gay" to! Sadly, this is kind of supporting pgabriel's point now.
Hey, Mike Piazza did the same thing. Me personally, I have no problem with gays, they aren't bothering me. But why should Tom Cruise stand up for them if he isn't gay. People who are blessed with wealth should take up social causes, but if the rights of homosexuals isn't a cause he is concerned about, so be it.
Fair enough, if you agree that being called gay is slander. Looks like a lot of people agree. Biologically, it's like being called short, or brown-haired, or eskimo, or left-handed, but ... whatever.
