Guess who didn’t go all ‘aww’ over Tom Cruise’s Oprah couch-jumping? His publicist who was FIRED for the actor’s antics

Tom Cruise is one of the finest showmen in the business. We’ve seen him jump off buildings, cliffs, and planes. But truth be told, he could generate just as many headlines by jumping on Oprah’s couch. That makes him indispensable to studios. Unfortunately for those around him, someone still has to pay for his antics. Such was the case in 2006 when Cruise was so unhinged that Paramount fired the publicist who put him in front of cameras.

Cruise’s career is complicated. There have been ups and even higher ups. But when controversy hit, it was as bad as Will Smith’s Oscar fiasco. For those who don’t remember — or weren’t old enough — it’s hard to understand why people considered couch-jumping such a big deal. Sure, it looked odd. Some might even say it looked fake because of how over the top it was. But was that really worth firing Tim Menke, a veteran publicist respected across the industry? Well, context, in this case, matters.

On Feb. 28, the ICG Publicist Awards honored Menke for an illustrious 30-year career. When accepting his award, the first thing that came to his mind was still the couch incident. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Menke gave his speech to a very giddy audience. “These awards solidified a special place in my heart in 2006 when, after a dozen years at Paramount, I was kicked to the curb in large part because, well, long story short, a couch on The Oprah Winfrey Show.” He went on to say his “mistake” was the exception to the biggest rule in the entertainment industry.

“It was my booking and it didn’t go very well. It violated the adage that all publicity is good publicity.”

However, Menke wasn’t the only casualty of that era, when a Cruise interview could derail at any moment. Skepticism toward Cruise’s chosen religion, Scientology, had peaked. Whenever he got on camera — be it with Matt Lauer or Oprah — his demeanor wildly varied. His War of the Worlds press run became about his personal life, not Spielberg’s movie. By the end of that tour, Menke lost his job. His agent, Pat Kingsley, also lost hers. Cruise’s relationship with Spielberg was reportedly broken beyond repair.

Fortunately, that changed after Top Gun: Maverick when Spielberg personally thanked Cruise for “saving cinema” at the Oscar night rehearsals. The film shattered box office records at a time when theaters desperately needed a resurgence. One can only hope that means a late-career Cruise-Spielberg collaboration — especially now that Cruise is finally saying goodbye to the Mission: Impossible franchise.

And in a sense, that’s how Cruise recalibrated his career and found his way back into our hearts. He stopped discussing his personal life and focused solely on his work. Albeit through “safe” choices like Mission: Impossible sequels. But knowing what goes into making those movies, “safe” seems like an understatement. Even Will Smith seems to be following this playbook for his comeback.

Menke also bounced back from the fiasco and eventually returned to Paramount Studios — after its bosses finally understood the merit of bringing back an industry veteran — in 2018, and is currently working under Liz West, the studio’s Executive Vice-President of marketing communications