HollyWeird: Scientology Gets the Blame in Masterson’s Trial

Editor’s Note: Whether on screen or off, Hollywood can always be counted on to keep us entertained. This is especially true when it comes to politics. Liberty Nation’s HollyWeird column shines the spotlight on Tinseltown’s A-listers and their wild and wacky takes on today’s events.

Actor Danny Masterson (That ‘70s Show) was recently found guilty of two counts of forcible rape while the third charge resulted in a hung jury. During the trial, the district attorney claimed Scientology teaches against seeking legal action on other members, no matter the crime. While some celebrity followers say their religion is mainstream, others call it out as being a brainwashing cult.

The Masterson Trial

The accusers claimed Masterson drugged their drinks so that he could take advantage of and rape them. Since they were Scientology members, the women said it was forbidden to accuse the actor legally. “The church taught his victims ‘Rape isn’t rape, you caused this, and above all, you are never allowed to go to law enforcement,’” Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson told the jury. “In Scientology, the defendant is a celebrity, and he is untouchable.”

The church, however, denied the allegations and told Fox News Digital, “The District Attorney unconscionably centered his prosecution on the defendant’s religion and fabrications about the Church to introduce prejudice and inflame bigotry. The DA elicited testimony and descriptions of Scientology beliefs and practices which were uniformly FALSE.”

Scientology Drama

When it comes to celebrities, Tom Cruise is the most known for his devotion to Scientology. Oddly enough, two of his ex-wives — Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes — quit the church when they ended their marriages. Six years after the wedding, Holmes filed for divorce and sought sole custody of their daughter, Suri, claiming she didn’t want to raise her child in the religion.

The late Kirstie Alley was also a believer, saying Scientology saved her life. In her 2012 memoir, The Art of Men, she wrote:

“When I began doing Scientology, I was a drugged-out mess. I understood hell — depression, anxiety, addiction, failure, and loss. Well, at least, I understood that I’d experienced a fair quantity of each. Through the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard I gained a different point of view of these age-old problems. Depression, anxiety, loss, addiction, sadness, hate, self-loathing are not new subjects.”

Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg) gives credit to the church for her 28-year marriage with actor Bodhi Elfman (Aliens, Clowns & Geeks). In 2018, she told People magazine, “Well, I’ve been a Scientologist for 28 years and that’s a huge part of what helps us keep our communication going and our relationship.” She added, “I use it every single day of my life and it keeps me energized and vivacious and happy.”

Leah Remini (The King of Queens), who left the church in 2013, is very outspoken against the teachings. In her documentary, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, she claims to expose the real truth behind the church. One of her guests, Mike Rinder, says Scientology is based on false premises since its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, lived on a ship called the Apollo where he stayed in international waters so that he could not be arrested. The church was being investigated for being a cult back in the 1960s.

One of the biggest Scientology achievements is to become “clear,” which basically means you’ve done everything right and you’ll never die. Hubbard claimed he had been wounded in the military and healed his injuries using the practice, but Lawrence Wright, who wrote Going Clear, said his research showed the injury documentation was faked. Wright said “the church told him that the records were ‘sheep-dipped’ – that the military created a whole set of fake documents to cover up Hubbard’s covert military duties,” according to Insider.

When Hubbard died, the church had to come up with an explanation since he should have been able to live forever. Remini explained:

“The core belief of Scientology is that you are a spiritual being. L. Ron Hubbard had reached, obviously, the highest level of Scientology there was to reach, promoting this idea that there’s an afterlife, and he found the answer to it by deciding to discard this body to go explore new OT levels. All of this is bull—t. L. Ron Hubbard died of a stroke.”

Jeff Hawkins provided marketing for the church before he quit. He wrote Counterfeit Dreams, in which he alleged members were physically assaulted if they displeased the higher-ups. “If the leader believed that someone was guilty of ‘crimes’ against the church, he would tell other members to get that person to confess their crimes,” Insider pointed out. “Often, the other members would resort to using violence on the targeted member.”

“It was like ‘Lord of the Flies’ in there,” Rinder described. “I mean, it was insane. It was literally ‘I’m going to beat the crap out of you before I get the crap beat out of me.’” In the early 2000s, “the Hole” was set up in Hemet, CA, where upper-echelon members who displeased the leader would be sent. “Honestly, the reasons for that could be anything from answering a question wrongly, not answering a question, a facial expression that was inappropriate, falling asleep after being up for a couple of days – I mean anything, you’re in the Hole,” Rinder exposed.

When it comes to celebrities, getting them into the church is one of its highest missions. “The Church of Scientology is a business. And like any business, they like to have a celebrity selling it,” Remini said. Just as in the real world, the stars were treated differently than the regular members. Remini explained in an AMA chat on Reddit:

“Any complaint we had about the outside world was met with agreement from the church. We were serviced differently, we had supervisors doing courses in our homes, giving special schedules to celebrities. Staff was interrogated by the church. Oftentimes, there were Sea Org members working for celebrities in their homes, personally working for them. I know of one celeb who had a Sea Org member working in their home and Sea Org members were averaging $25/week. The labor laws don’t apply to any church, therefore they were made to work ungodly hours, forced into interrogations if making human mistakes around the celebrity.”

Religion or cult? The answer to that depends on the perception. The church suggests that Remini and other so-called whistleblowers are using their celebrity only to drum up more money by defaming Scientology. On its website, the organization said Remini “knows the truth she conveniently rewrites in her revisionist history.” It added, “She needs to move on with her life instead of pathetically exploiting her former religion, her former friends and other celebrities for money and attention to appear relevant again.”

Tune in next time to see what else Tinseltown has planned.