Tom Cruise gets France’s highest honor despite its Scientology scorn

France, we were really on your side.

Not only did you throw tradition aside and stage the opening ceremony for the XXXIII Olympiad on the Seine rather than in a stuffy old sports stadium, but you managed to turn it into a true spectacle. And even better, you sent many confused Americans into paroxysms of outrage.

In the days since your epic celebration, we’ve seen some cogent, passionate explanations of what was really going on that night from various French observers trying to explain to apoplectic Americans that no, it wasn’t Leonardo da Vinci’s Renaissance painting The Last Supper being mocked in one tableau, but actually a call back to the Greek god Dionysus (the blue guy) and a bacchanal, because the Olympics, after all, are of ancient Greek origin, not renaissance or Christian. (And it said so right there in the media guide to the ceremony, by the way.)

The French explanations we’ve read have expressed their appreciation for the event after a divisive political year, from the national anthem sung by Axelle Saint-Cirel, a black woman whose parents were from Guadeloupe, to performances by Lady Gaga and Céline Dion, to the torch in a balloon that floated into the sky, and yes, to a mostly naked Dionysus painted blue. “The ceremony was inclusive, disruptive, well thought out and so important for us French people. As a reminder of how good we can be to each other. After so much division, we needed that. Unity. Comfort. Compassion. Love,” said one black French woman, a ‘spiritual teacher’ who calls herself Jocelyne.

Like we said, we were really on France’s side in this, and thrilled to begin watching the games themselves, which are always mesmerizing.

But then, we saw the news you no doubt did as well this weekend, and it came off like a bad three-point shot hitting the rim.

Say what?

In a secret ceremony that was held just before the opening of the games, actor Tom Cruise was named a Knight of Arts and Letters by France’s minister of culture, Rachida Dati, who announced the award in a tweet early Saturday morning.

Cruise was receiving the honor, she said, because “His filming of ‘Mission Impossible’ in Paris in 2017 beautifully showcased our capital. His passionate defense of cinemas inspires all lovers of the big screen.”

Oh wow. So Top Gun used the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop for Mission: Impossible — Fallout, and he gets what Vanity Fair called France’s highest civilian honor for it, and in a secret ceremony.

We’re sure this wasn’t a cheap way for the country to increase the chances that Cruise would show up in the stands watching the games. (Which he did, of course.)

But coming so soon after the French press expressed proper skepticism for Scientology’s April grand opening of its “Ideal Org” in a Paris suburb, and the way France in general has been so unwelcoming to Cruise’s “religion,” it’s kind of shocking to see them currying favor with him like this.

As Cruise showed up in photos at the games, Yashar Ali was quick to remind his massive audience who they were celebrating…

And we’ll also remind you (and remind France) what we said about Cruise and his daughter just last month, when he chose to attend a Taylor Swift concert in London while Suri was graduating from high school in New York…

Even if Scientology had formally declared Katie to be an enemy, Tom Cruise is not a regular Scientology member. He’s a celebrity. And in fact, the most important Scientology celebrity of all time. And as a celebrity, Tom would have the ability to ignore those rules and continue to see both Katie and Suri if he wanted to.

But that’s not what happened. As the years passed after that 2012 split, it became more and more obvious that Tom had completely cut Katie and Suri out of his life.

So, here’s what we told the Sun and any other reporter who has asked us about this: If Tom Cruise, as Scientology’s most important celebrity, can ignore Scientology’s rules about suppressive persons, and potential trouble sources, and disconnection and continue to see his daughter, why doesn’t he?

Why has Tom Cruise so obviously chosen Scientology over his own daughter that he’s dancing for friendship bracelets at Wembley Stadium while Suri is going through one of the most important days of her life in New York?

The answer is, because Tom Cruise is convinced that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is the greatest human being who ever lived, and current church leader David Miscavige is the most important person on the planet today, and Hubbard’s “technology” is the only thing that will “save” this planet, something that is more important to Tom than preserving a relationship with his own daughter.

And also, he’s a huge piece of shit, but the media is always too afraid to say so.

So yeah, we’re still going to enjoy the games, but France, we were on your side with the blue guy and the spectacle of the opening ceremony and you really lost us with this boneheaded decision. Sacre bleu.

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