14 DAY TRIAL // Tom Cruise’s 20-year-old son Connor has come under serious fire online after posting a series of tweets to his account, expressing outrage that Caitlyn Jenner would be presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPYS.
Those tweets have been deleted since, but the New York Daily News confirms they were online for some time. Connor has also addressed the controversy, by saying that people need to stop jumping to conclusions.
“Everyone is taking this too seriously”
Jenner will be presented with the award because of her contribution to the LGBT community by coming out as transwoman. Formerly known as Bruce, Jenner came out in an April interview with Diane Sawyer, but the most impacting revelation came this week, when she was photographed for the first time as a woman.
Caitlyn Jenner landed the cover of this month’s issue of Vanity Fair, along with a 22-page cover story in which she takes the world on her extremely long and troubled transition experience. It will also be shown on an upcoming E! docuseries airing next month.
Connor doesn’t believe that Caitlyn deserves the award, and he made sure to say that on Twitter.
“Really?? Winning the AA award for courage?? Ashton is gonna come out and yell PUNK’D,” he wrote. “Don’t get me wrong. Do what you feel like doing and don’t let anyone stop you. But everyone is taking this way too seriously.”
He went on to list other things that are of more importance that Caitlyn’s coming out, like overfishing, overpopulation and the Earth’s dwindling resources, war and poverty, or “the fact that all can’t even get along on earth lol.”
Connor deletes “offensive” tweets, explains some more
The explanations didn’t matter for those who consider Caitlyn’s coming out and the media attention she’s getting very important for the LGBT community, where the suicide rates among transpeople are higher than within any other minority group.
Her coming out and making her journey public matter to them because they will know they’re not alone, and they will hopefully get the support they need. Connor should have understood that, Twitter users told him.
The messages available below are meant as further explanation to the initial, “offensive” comment. Connor isn’t apologizing and he’s definitely not taking it back: he’s just rephrasing what he’d already said.
If this is what makes Caitlyn happy, then more power to her, but the world still has bigger problems than that.
Totally twisting what I said, if you read what I said I totally support being happy and am glad she is happy.
— Connor Cruise (@TheConnorCruise) June 4, 2015
We just need to as a nation and a world get back to business and making everything a better place.
— Connor Cruise (@TheConnorCruise) June 4, 2015
Way more about the problems the world needs to solve than about her guys.
— Connor Cruise (@TheConnorCruise) June 4, 2015