Leah Remini is as soon as once more taking the Church of Scientology to job, posting a prolonged Twitter thread that accuses the group of “masking up” member Danny Masterson’s alleged crimes.
The King of Queens actor, a former Scientologist, urged her followers to maintain a detailed eye on the trial by which Masterson is going through fees for the alleged sexual assaults of three girls in separate incidents between 2001 and 2003.
Remini created and co-hosted successful present in regards to the Scientology, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which ran for 3 seasons on A&E Community. The present advised the unheard tales of people that managed to go away the spiritual group — many who mentioned they suffered dire and ongoing penalties within the church and past.
Remini’s latest thread revisited most of the themes explored on the present.
“Do you know that in case you are a Scientologist, you might be forbidden from contacting legislation enforcement when one other Scientologist has dedicated a criminal offense in opposition to you?” Remini’s first tweet learn. “For those who do, you’ll be declared a suppressive individual and lose your loved ones, mates, and livelihood in a single day.”
Her second tweet immediately addressed the Masterson trial, saying it’s “not getting sufficient consideration on social media.”
She went on to assert that Scientologists are “managed” and that the group’s insurance policies, which had been written by founder L. Ron Hubbard, “can by no means be altered and should be interpreted actually, permitting this felony (group) to manage members and insulate itself from dangerous PR.”
She then dove right into a multi-part explainer of what occurs when somebody within the group accuses one other member of a criminal offense, noting that “most” of the ladies who’ve accused Masterson had been at one level Scientologists and first reported their alleged rapes to prime ethics officers within the church.
She mentioned that these ethics officers instantly flip round and report what they’ve been advised to Scientology’s chief, David Miscavige.
She mentioned as soon as the studies get to Miscavige, these accusers are primarily deserted by the group.
“Most individuals can be too frightened to maneuver ahead if the price of reporting the rape meant their whole life, from their household to their livelihood, would disappear in a single day,” she continued, calling Scientology a “totalitarian cult.”
“This coverage permits Scientologists to do horrific issues to guard Scientology and makes Scientologists unreliable witnesses.”
Remini mentioned she’s hoping individuals take note of Masterson’s trial, as she believes his lawyer Philip Cohen “is doing all the pieces he can to strip the involvement of Scientology from this trial.”
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“Scientology has obstructed justice in masking up Danny’s crimes,” she wrote, calling those that got here ahead to accuse Masterson “brave” as a result of repercussions they could face.
Remini claimed that Scientologists who go to legislation enforcement to report crimes about one other Scientologist are declared a “suppressive individual” and that the group then offers its members “permission to do no matter they should do to destroy your life.”
This contains the lack of household, mates, and job should you work throughout the group, she mentioned.
“You’ll lose all the pieces and everybody.”
She mentioned these penalties are dire sufficient to maintain individuals from reporting crimes similar to rape.
She additionally inspired individuals to observe the trial and publish about it on social media, particularly “should you’re pissed off that Scientology has by no means been actually held accountable for its crimes.”
“It’s not nearly a Hollywood superstar,” she concluded. “It’s about what a multi-billion greenback cult does to cowl up horrifying intercourse crimes.”
In Could of this 12 months, the three girls accusing Masterson every took the stand in a preliminary listening to to share the main points of their allegations.
After the three-day listening to, which included graphic and emotional testimony, Los Angeles County Superior Court docket Choose Charlaine F. Olmedo decided that the actor would head to trial.
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The trial started mid-October. The primary lady to take the witness stand broke down in tears whereas testifying that Masterson pushed her face right into a pillow in 2003, smothering her to the purpose the place she couldn’t breathe. She additionally mentioned he choked her and she or he thought on the time “that he was going to kill me. That I used to be going to die.”
She mentioned she was out and in of consciousness that night time after she drank about half a glass of a fruity vodka drink that was given to her by Masterson. She additionally testified that Masterson pulled out a gun when he heard commotion exterior the door.
Masterson, 46, who on the time was a star of the Fox TV sitcom That ’70s present, has pleaded not responsible to the counts of rape.
All three of Masterson’s accusers had been members of the Church of Scientology on the time they declare the rapes occurred, however have since left. Masterson stays a member. Choose Olmedo mentioned earlier than the trial that she wouldn’t permit Scientology to turn into a de facto defendant however would permit restricted dialogue of it.
Scientology did come up. The girl testified that a few of her mutual mates filed so-called “information studies” signalling their unhappiness together with her after she advised them in regards to the preliminary incident with Masterson, and she or he was summoned by an ethics officer who pressured her to make peace with him and take duty.
“You possibly can by no means be a sufferer,” the lady mentioned. “It doesn’t matter what occurs, you’re all the time accountable.”
Requested if she nonetheless feared retaliation from anybody for coming ahead about Masterson, she replied “about half this courtroom.”
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She testified that she signed a non-disclosure settlement with Masterson in 2004, and accepted $400,000 over the course of a 12 months, as a result of the church was going to tar her as a “suppressive individual” in any other case. She mentioned she had violated the settlement “about 50 instances” since signing it.
Final week, one other accuser took the stand, saying she was in a relationship with Masterson for about six years, starting in 1997. She mentioned that in 2001 she woke as much as discover Masterson having intercourse together with her.
“I advised him I didn’t need to have intercourse, and he wouldn’t cease,” she mentioned, as reported by E! Information. He pinned her arms, she continued, making her really feel “trapped … I used to be screaming at him to get off of me.”
She additionally testified that he was “very sexually aggressive” and that he would usually name her “fats.” She mentioned she would have intercourse with him regardless of not desirous to, as a result of in any other case he would turn into mad at her and refuse to speak to her till she apologized to him.
She mentioned when she reported the alleged assault to a church ethics officer in 2003, she was advised to not use the phrase “rape.”
“She defined to me you can’t rape somebody you might be in a relationship with,” the witness mentioned. She mentioned the officer advised her she “had finished one thing to trigger it … We’re all answerable for the situation we’re in.”
Additional testimony is predicted this week. If convicted, Masterson faces 45 years to life behind bars.
— With recordsdata from The Related Press