Just two days after ESPN announced on their press release that they would present Caitlyn with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, Tom Cruise's son says that there are many other people who deserve it.
- Jun 4, 2015
AceShowbiz - Connor Cruise obliquely criticizes ESPN in a Twitter rant for awarding Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. The 20-year-old actor doubted how well-deserved Caitlyn was for the award. He began the rant with a Twitter post which read, "Really?? Winning the AA award for courage?? Ashton is gonna come out and yell PUNK'D."
Connor then clarified his statement so that it would not be misinterpreted as a mere hater's comment. He wrote on another post, "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." The "Seven Pounds" actor also emphasized that there were many more important things to be addressed and many other important people who deserved the award. "There are so many more important things that should be talked about," he continued. "And SO MANY MORE IMPORTANT PEOPLE that actually deserve an award."
Connor went on, "I'm totally supportive of people staying true to themselves and finding true happiness in whatever way they can...There are just way more things that we as a nation and as a planet should be talking about and working on." He then gave some examples of issues which he deemed more important than Caitlyn's courage to come out of the closet. "Like the fact that we are overfishing and in 30 years there will be no more fish. Seems dumb but 85 percent of the worlds protein is fish... That's one of thousands of things that should be of a higher importance than what is currently being gone over...Or what about the fact that our planet is becoming less habitable on a daily basis. Yet the population is increasing at an alarming rate...Or the fact that we all can't even get a long on earth lol. We fight and kill each other. We have war and poverty. This needs to change."
The "Red Dawn" actor later removed the aforementioned tweets, and tried to make it clear that his tweets were not a hater's comments. He wrote, "Totally twisting what I said, if you read what I said I totally support being happy and am glad she is happy." He said that he wanted people to shift their attention to more crucial issues. "We just need to as a nation and a world get back to business and making everything a better place," he added. "Way more about the problems the world needs to solve than about her guys."
In fact, many people expressed disagreement about the A.A. Courage award to be presented to Caitlyn. They thought that Mount St. Joseph basketball player Lauren Hill deserved the award better than Caitlyn. Lauren had touched the nation as she stayed playing for her college team while courageously battling an inoperable brain tumor. She passed away at 19 on April 10. Without any hatred, people took to Twitter to voice their opinions. A Twitter user, @cliffsaunders, wrote, "Glad Jenner is finally able to live life on her own terms, but the Ashe award for courage? Lauren Hill deserves that." Another user, @GarrettChiT, mentioned ESPYS' Twitter account on his tweet which read, "@ESPYS happy that Jenner is finding peace. But how can you not choose Lauren Hill? Total miss in my opinion."
