"The stunt was intended to be light-hearted rather than malicious and we would apologise to Mr Cruise for any offence that was caused," Channel 4 said in a statement. But it appears apologies were not enough as the four individuals involved with the prank were arrested following the incident. The prankster and the three cameramen were released on bond and are scheduled to report back to police on July 4 and are facing possible assault charges, according to a press quote from a police spokeswoman.

The stunt was reportedly pulled for an upcoming reality program similar to MTV's "Punk'd" where pranks are played on celebs. Sharon Osbourne was a previous target of the show, she was squirted with water by a bogus cameraman but Sharon fought back and doused the prankster with a champagne bucket filled with water.

Cruise was less forgiving that Osbourne. The prankster offered up an excuse to Cruise but the 42-year-old actor wasn't hearing it. "Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?" Cruise asked the bogus reporter.

When the prankster tried to walk away Cruise wasn't done with him, "Don't run away. That's incredibly rude. I'm here giving you an interview and you do that ... it's incredibly rude." Cruise then added, "You're a jerk ... jerk ... you're a jerk. I really work hard to make people feel good."