By Ryan Smith
Senior Pop Culture & Entertainment Reporter
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Tom Cruise has become the subject of a flood of jokes and memes, following the announcement that production on his movie Mission: Impossible 7 has been halted due to positive COVID-19 test results on the set.
Production on the action film—which had already been impacted by Italy's lockdown back in February 2020—has been shut down in the U.K. until June 14, in line with safety protocols.
"We are following all safety protocols and will continue to monitor the situation," a spokesperson for Paramount said on Thursday, per Deadline.
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The announcement reminded fans of Cruise's alleged profanity-laced rant at crew members for failing to adhere to social distancing rules on the London set.
In audio leaked in December, a man—reported to be the 58-year-old actor—was heard yelling about the wider impact of breaching stringent COVID-19 rules.
"You can tell it to the people who are losing their f***ing homes because our industry is shut down," Cruise allegedly said in part. "It's not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education.
"That's what I sleep with every night—the future of this f***ing industry! So I'm sorry, I am beyond your apologies. I have told you, and now I want it, and if you don't do it, you're out. We are not shutting this f***ing movie down! Is it understood? If I see it again, you're f***ing gone."
Those words have come back to haunt Cruise, who became a trending topic on Twitter as his reaction to the shutdown was imagined by fans.
Noting that the recorded rant may well have been justified, @ashmatxx wrote: "Suddenly that little Tom Cruise outburst isn't so silly now huh."
Anticipating a dramatic reaction on the actor's part, writer Dana Schwartz tweeted: "SOMEONE GET TOM CRUISE A BROWN BAG TO BREATHE INTO!!!!"
Observing that the set would be shut for 14 days, @DJ__Paint said: "We all know it's because they don't want Tom Cruise to yell at them again."
Meanwhile, @mrgrimmace used Cruise's film roles as a metric, writing: "On a scale of 1-10, 1 being Jerry Maguire in the titular role and 10 being Les Grossman in "Tropic Thunder," how p**sed do you think Tom Cruise is right now at the crew member who tested positive for COVID-19 and shut down production for two weeks?"
Amid the witty quips were a series of videos of various men throwing temper tantrums, as Twitter users jokingly tagged them as Cruise's reaction to the unplanned shutdown of production.
Among them were clips of Cruise as ill-tempered studio executive Les Grossman, from the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder.
During his few minutes onscreen as the character, Cruise—sporting a bald cap and large prosthetic hands—raised laughs as he ranted and swore at all within earshot.
"Everyone be looking at Tom Cruise right now for Les Grossman to bubble to the surface like Mr Hyde,' tweeted @HBTheWarrior.
In Mission: Impossible 7, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise—who serves as a producer on the film—reprises his role as Ethan Hunt.
Between COVID-19 shutdowns and delays, filming has taken place in such locations as Norway and Italy, as well as various parts of the U.K.
Also starring Angela Bassett, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby, the film is scheduled to be released in May 2022.
It has not been specified who, or how many people, on the production side tested positive for COVID-19.
Newsweek has contacted a representative for Tom Cruise for comment.
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