Perhaps Tom Cruise needs some positive PR—which is exactly why people are skeptical of a “random” moment that has gone viral online. In the viral video, the actor approaches a young staffer to check on her. But since his new movie, Digger, is about to come out, people aren’t convinced the video went viral by coincidence.
Apparently, Tom was worried that the staffer looked sad.
Tom Cruise is going viral after checking on a random staff worker who looked sad (but was just doomscrolling)
by u/Awkward-Variety842 in Fauxmoi
The viral video shows her seated in the break room and scrolling on her phone when Tom approaches. He walks up behind her, kneels down, and then taps her on the shoulder. She turns around and looks surprised, and then they fist bump before Tom walks away.
The interaction was shared on social media with the caption, “When you are doom scrolling at work and Tom Cruise decides it’s your day.”
But people don’t really believe that this was a random kind gesture.
when tom cruise thinks you’re in distress so he checks on you but you were just doom scrolling and got the surprise of a lifetime 😂
— delaney (@tweetyenergy) September 27, 2026
TikTok @ klementina_|le pic.twitter.com/yjE1kcc5Vg
In fact, a lot of skeptics online think the interaction looks super staged. On Reddit, people pointed out several details that made the “random” gesture seem far less believable. For one, the fact that it just so happened to be caught on camera seemed suspicious. “I always sit under the best surveillance cameras when I’m on break while Tom cruise is visiting,” one person joked.
Besides, the video makes it look as though the staffer had been sitting in the break room alone when someone approached her from behind and touched her, and yet, she didn’t seem even the slightest bit startled. “And when he touches my arm I don’t scream and recoil in shock, I react as if I was expecting someone to come up behind me and touch me without saying anything,” another Redditor wrote.
People also questioned why Tom would even think this staffer was distressed in the first place, given that he couldn’t actually see her. “From Tom’s point of view he can’t even know or see this person looks ‘sad,'” someone else argued.
A few people even joked that the camera angle seemed strategic as well. “The only reason i know its staged is because the camera angle makes him look tall,” another critic added.
So, critics think it’s “the most obvious pr stunt ever.”
The fact that the whole thing came across as very orchestrated made them question why he and his team didn’t, at the very lease, try a little harder to make the interaction look authentic. “Crazy how fake this is,” someone wrote. “Back in the day they used to put time and effort into making things like this look less staged.”
And, of course, the fact that Tom is currently in the midst of promoting his upcoming movie has made people even more suspicious. So far, the movie has garnered mixed reviews from critics, with some calling the film “insufferable.” The BBC has called it the “biggest risk of his career,” while the Boston Globe was harsher, asserting that it’s actually “the worst movie of Tom Cruise’s career.”
So, it seems like the perfect time for Tom to get some good publicity. “Imagine this coming out just when he has a film that needs promoting,” another person commented. “What a fortunate coincidence!”
“Oscar campaign is happening, I see,” someone else wrote.
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