Tom Cruise’s co-star Bronson Pinchot alleges he “tormented” the Risky Business cast with homophobic comments and annoying behavior.

Tom Cruise may be one of the greatest action heroes of this era, pleasing fans from all around the globe with his impeccable charms and incredible acting and stunting chops. But while he seems to have led a successful career spread over the course of many wonderful years, the actor also seems to have pissed off some of his peers while working with them.

Tom Cruise. | Credits: Gage Skidmore/CCA-by-SA-2.0/Wikimedia Commons.

One of these co-stars was none other than Bronson Pinchot, who seemed to have more than just found Cruise annoying while working with him. To say the least, he claimed the action legend pretty much ‘tormented’ everyone while working on their film Risky Business – so much so that when it all came back to Cruise, Pinchot was actually glad about it!

Tom Cruise Reportedly Tormented His Co-Stars On Risky Business

1983’s comedy-crime Risky Business was the film that made Tom Cruise a household name by serving as his breakthrough in Hollywood’s entertainment industry. Leading the film as Joel Goodsen, he gave one of his best renditions to date – enough to land the movie a stunning 93% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, with tremendous praise for the film’s sharp and funny themes.

Cruise in Risky Business. | Credits: Warner Bros.

However, while his onscreen performance was greatly acclaimed, the offscreen experience of working with him just didn’t sit well with some of his co-stars. Bronson Pinchot, Perry in the movie, was one of the individuals from this category, who even reportedly claimed to be among those who “thought Tom [Cruise] was the biggest bore on the face of the Earth.”

According to the AV Club transcript (via The Guardian), Pinchot’s recollection of Cruise on the sets of this project was anything but admiring. Recalling how Cruise was 20 back then and he was 23, Pinchot shared rather disapprovingly:

Tom had picked up this knack of calling everyone by their character names, because that would probably make your performance better, and I don’t agree with that. I think that acting is acting, and the rest of the time, you should be you, but he called us all by our character names.

Bronson Pinchot and Cruise in a still from the movie. | Credits: Warner Bros.

That’s not all. What further seems to have added to this alleged “torment” by the Mission: Impossible actor toward the rest of the cast were his reported homophobic comments. As the Perfect Strangers actor confessed about Cruise while claiming it was all “very, very strange”:

He was tense and made constant, constant unrelated homophobic comments, like, “You want some ice cream, in case there are no gay people there?” I mean, his lingo was larded with the most … There was no basis for it. It was like, “It’s a nice day, I’m glad there are no gay people standing here.”

For the record, these homophobic accusations were refuted by Cruise’s rep later on, who reportedly told EW: “Obviously, this is so far removed from who Tom Cruise is as a person, this must have been said in jest.” But while it seems like Pinchot was letting lose all of his hard feelings toward his co-star, the most surprising part of it all was when it all came circling back to Cruise – and Pinchot seemed to be glad about it!

Bronson Pinchot Was Glad Tom Cruise Seemingly Faced Karma

Pinchot and Cruise in a still from the movie. | Credits: Warner Bros.

If the allegations of the Eyes Wide Shut actor spurring severely homophobic comments on set was one thing, all of it circling back to him and hitting the actor right in the face was another. And for Pinchot, it all seemed rather befitting after everything he accused Cruise of doing – which ostensibly included him “tormenting” his co-stars with his antics.

As the actor continued to share his feelings on the matter:

Years and years later when people started to torment him with that, I used to think “God, that’s really fitting, because he tormented a lot of people as a 20-year-old.” He made such a big deal about it.

Hold a grudge much? Well, in the case of Bronson Pinchot, it most definitely sounds like it.

Risky Business can currently be watched on Prime Video.