And let me add: Between the Chicks and Tom Cruise....an entire course could be offered.
Since Tom recently hired new help and was promptly dispatched to Brooke Shields' home for a personal apology session, etc., you can bet his case study may---MAY---end up in the "How To Recover From Doo-Doo Hitting The Fan" chapter.
Plus, while the Vichy Chicks' music was well-liked, they were not personally a draw. Tom had built up enormous goodwill and likeability before whatever happened to him recently happened. Plus his popularity was truly worldwide and the coverage of his recent troubles will not be the same worldwide as it was here. Therefore, he has a better chance of recovering.
Plus Tom is cute and Nat is not.
But the bottom line is this: NO celebrity of any stripe can survive insulting their fans. It's worse than a politician insulting his base because the celebrity/fan relationship is primarily emotional and the politician/base relationship is primarily pragmatic.