The 20-year-old, who is the son of Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, has faced backlash over criticising the decision to present a prestigious ‘courage’ award to Caitlyn Jenner.
Upon hearing that the 65-year-old would be receiving the ESPY Award’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award, Connor took to his social media channels to voice his disapproval.
“Really?? Winning the AA award for courage?? Ashton is gonna come out and yell PUNK’d,” tweeted Connor, in a reference to the popular reality TV prank show.
He added: “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…There are so many more important things that should be talked about…And SO MANY MORE IMPORTANT PEOPLE that actually deserve an award.”
In a series of tweets that have since been deleted, Connor went on to suggest topics that we should be discussing instead of Caitlyn Jenner, such as overfishing, poverty and global warming.
While some of Connor’s followers voiced their support, he faced an overwhelming amount of backlash on the social media site.
@TheConnorCruise totally agree w you, many more pertinent issues
— SusanBlickPhoto (@Phomadic) June 4, 2015
Connor Cruise, what do you know about courage? you don't even have the courage to speak to your mum.... #CaitlynJenner #ConnorCruise
— Mila (@MilaConLima) June 4, 2015
“Maybe if you were her you’d think differently. What worthy issues do you directly bring attention to/ are involved in?” wrote one Twitter user.
Meanwhile, another user struck a personal blow, writing: “Connor Cruise, what do you know about courage? You don’t even have the courage to speak to your mum.”
Way more about the problems the world needs to solve than about her guys.
— Connor Cruise (@TheConnorCruise) June 4, 2015
The level of criticism forced Connor to not only delete the tweets, but defend his opinions.
“Totally twisting what I said. If you read what I said, I totally support being happy and am glad she is happy,” he wrote.
