A long time ago before all of my fortune and fame, and the women, and my pet elephant, I used to work as a waiter for the Vanity Fair Oscar party held every year at Morton’s Steakhouse in Los Angeles. Here I could hob-nob with celebs such as BILL MURRAY, JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP, DIANE KEATON, and ORLANDO BLOOM. One year I was working and Tom Cruise showed up on a brand new Ducati. I’m a total motorcycle geek and for whatever reason without a thought in my head I started talking bikes with him. So in a giant room filled with celebs, I stood there in a silly Loveboat suit while holding a tray of sour apple martinis, Tom Cruise took the time to be really cool and talk mechanics with me. He chatted with me for a few minutes and I realized that he should be talking with other celebrities, not cocktail boy, so I ended the conversation. No matter what the news says about him, I think that was above and beyond and Tom Cruise will always be cool in my book.
Now my guilt. I got a job doing some illustrations for the Hollywood Reporter on Scientology. I was to depict illustrations about some of the seemingly strange stories about the religion. Some of these images were to illustrate Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and the religion’s leader David Miscavige.
I had a blast doing the work and although nothing about it was bad or negative, I couldn’t help but feel that I had betrayed my homie Cruise.
Tom if you read this, I think you’re rad and I’m keeping my Days of Thunder poster up!!