A tale only Hollywood could love
Re “Viacom to Break Ties With Cruise,” Aug. 23
Tom Cruise criticizes the over-drugging of our youth with a Schedule II drug, Ritalin, and gets fired. The implication that Cruise, and not Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone, is the irresponsible citizen would make sense only in an Alice-in-Wonderland movie. One can only hope that the public thinks twice before seeing Paramount Pictures movies in the future.
RICHARD E. VATZ
Towson, Md.
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Re “Money Is the Real Star in Hollywood,” Aug. 24
Good job, Mr. Redstone. How dare the entertainment king jump on a couch! We appreciate your time and energy devoted to this important subject, thereby making a praiseworthy decision. Now we hope you will have some time to focus on less important topics such as sex and violence in Hollywood movies.
GAGAN AHUJA
Cypress
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Although Paramount made the right choice to dump Cruise, the amount of coverage the media gave this breakup was disturbing.
I hope this will serve as a wake-up call. If Paramount can realize that Cruise has nothing intelligent to say, maybe the rest of the population can realize that we should not pay as much attention as we do to movie stars like Cruise. There are more important things in the world.
MAZI BAHADORI
Mission Viejo
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Lowering the boom on superstar compensation may do wonders for Viacom on Wall Street, but it doesn’t do much toward persuading our “governator” to return to his Hollywood career. Even worse, it might encourage Cruise to run for office.
MARVIN J. WOLF
Mar Vista Heights
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Wow, Sumner Redstone, thank you for your courage! Someone finally realized there’s a whole segment of society that couldn’t care less about what Cruise is spouting off. Most of us wish that he would just shut up and act (if you call that acting).
Where do these stars get off thinking that we are so mindless that we need their influence to determine basic moral values? I welcome studios that try to limit their liability in this way.
I have refused to see a Cruise film for years on principle alone. As long as these stars think that what they have to say is important, I will invoke my right to keep my money and myself from supporting them.
DEBBIE SHARP
Whittier
