David Letterman Rips Tom Cruise Over ‘Nonsense’ Excuse for Missing Oscars

David Letterman has some choice words for Tom Cruise, who was absent from Sunday’s Oscars ceremony. While on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Letterman questioned the talk show host, who also hosted the Oscars, why Cruise wasn’t there. Jimmy Kimmel shared why Cruise supposedly wasn’t there, but the excuse didn’t seem to be a sufficient one for Letterman. 

After asking about Cruise’s absence, Kimmel explained, “We don’t know where Tom Cruise was. We heard production issues.” Letterman wasn’t exactly buying that excuse, as he replied, “What does that mean? That’s nonsense.” Kimmel understood where the former late-night personality was coming from, as he said that the reasoning was “very non-specific.” The Academy Awards host continued, “But we have no idea what happened. It seems like he should’ve been there, but he was not there. Maybe he feels like he wasn’t going to win so he didn’t want to come.”

At one point, Kimmel referred to Cruise as “the prince of Hollywood,” which sparked another spirited response from Letterman. He replied, “More to the power of your success. If Mr. Big Shot was not there the show was still never more successful. Nice going, Jimmy.” There was much speculation regarding Cruise’s absence at Hollywood’s biggest night, especially considering his film, Top Gun: Maverick, was nominated for several awards. 

Top Gun: Maverick was nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture. It ended up walking away with one win for Best Sound. Even though several of his co-stars were present at the ceremony, including Miles Teller and Monica Barbaro, the movie’s main star, Cruise, wasn’t. As Kimmel stated, it was reported that he missed the ceremony because of work with production for the next Mission Impossible film underway. Although, several outlets later reported that Cruise attended a different event on Sunday instead of the Oscars — Michael Caine’s birthday celebrations. 

As CNN reported, Cruise was pictured at Caine’s birthday party, which took place at The River Cafe in Hammersmith in west London. Others attended the celebrations including comedian David Walliams and TV host Denise Welch. Walliams even shared several photos from the occasion, including one of Cruise and Caine posing together. The Dark Knight actor turned 90 years old on Tuesday.