'Crazy' Cruise video leaked
2008-01-16 17:55
Cape Town - Hollywood star Tom Cruise is furious after a top secret Scientology speech was leaked on the internet, the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.
During his surprising nine-minute speech, to the theme music of his hit film trilogy Mission Impossible, the actor insisted it is an honour to be a Scientologist.
He claimed: "I think it's a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist, and it's something that you have to earn because a Scientologist has the ability to create new and better realities and improve conditions."
He also insisted that criminals and drug addicts could be rehabilitated by Scientology and even world peace could be achieved as long as all nations adopted Scientology as their religion of choice.
Cruise said of being a Scientologist: "It's rough and tumble and it's wild and woolly and it's a blast.
"It really is fun because there is nothing better than going out there and fighting the fight and suddenly you see things are better."
According to the Daily Mail news report, the actor delivered the sermon four years ago when he accepted the 'Freedom Medal of Valour' award at an International Association of Scientologists event.
Removed from websites
But the controversial video was for Scientologists' eyes only and not meant for public consumption.
Tom is reportedly very unhappy about the leaked video, an insider has revealed. "Tom takes Scientology very, very seriously and he does not want it subject to abuse and ridicule on the internet," he said.
The video clip has been removed from several websites including YouTube. However, News24 found that the clip was still available on some other websites.
The news of the video leak comes as an unauthorised biography of the star hit US bookshelves on Tuesday penned by British journalist and writer Andrew Morton.
The book, which offers a mostly unfavourable portrait of Cruise and claims he is the No 2 head of the Church of Scientology, has been attacked by Cruise's lawyer as "outrageous, sick stuff," and dismissed by The Church of Scientology as "a bigoted, defamatory assault replete with lies".