Cruise first appeared on South Park in the episode "Trapped in the Closet," in which he locks himself inside Stan Marsh's closet after Stan tells him that Leonardo Dicaprio, Gene Hackman, and "that guy who played Napoleon Dynamite" are better actors than him. Cruise believes Stan to be the reincarnation of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and Stan telling him this causes him to break down in hysterics. Many references to the real-life allegations that Cruise is gay are made throughout the episode, most prominently Cruise going so far as to deny that he is physically "in the closet."