This is what Sumner Redstone told The Wall Street Journal: "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

Translation: Sumner Redstone fired Tom Cruise for being an idiot.

Someone finally fired a celebrity for conduct unbecoming. This is an idea whose time has come, an idea that deserves the widest possible distribution. We are free at last (until he figures out what hit him) of an obnoxious celebrity. Let people of all creeds, all races and all political persuasions join in common cause to rid this precious nation of celebrities who turn themselves into antic idiots.

In a biography at the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Redstone/Rothstein, comes across as the kind of Greatest Generation guy who could build a business empire and stand up to Hollywood celebs. He could, and he did:

Redstone graduated first in his class from the prestigious Boston Latin School, and then finished Harvard in less than three years. Upon graduation, he was recruited by Edwin Reischauer, a future United States ambassador to Japan, for an ace United States Army intelligence unit that would become famous for cracking Japan's military codes. After three years of service, during which he received two Army commendations, Redstone entered the Harvard Law School. . . .

Redstone is a physically tough individual. In 1979, he survived a Boston hotel fire by clinging to a third-floor window with one severely burned hand. Doctors never expected him to live through 60 hours of surgery, but he did. Medical experts told him he would never walk again, yet in time Redstone began to exercise daily on a treadmill and to play tennis regularly, wearing a leather strap that enabled him to grip his racquet. Those who know the Boston tycoon say that his recovery spurred on his ambition to succeed in the motion picture and later television business.

Why hasn't this guy served as the Commerce or Treasury Secretary? Hollywood is too small a playing field for his talents and energy. To paraphrase Simon and Garfunkel,

Here's to you, Murray Rothstein,

Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you,

Wooo, woooo, wooo

Wooo, hoooo, woooo