The Church of Scientology has issued a lengthy, scathing response after former member Leah Remini filed a lawsuit against the organisation and its leader David Miscavige.
The King of Queens star, 53, announced the filing on Wednesday (2 August) in a press release accusing the church of destructive retaliation efforts to curb her and “thousands” of other detractors who have spoken out against them.
Remini was among the organised religion’s high-profile members for 35 years before she left in 2013.
Since leaving, she has made numerous claims about the church’s controversial activities in her 2016 book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology and the Emmy-winning docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
In its statement, the church called the actor “an anti-free speech bigot”.
“If Remini can no longer get a job, she has nobody to blame but herself,” the Church continued. “Obviously everybody in Hollywood now knows what we already knew: That Remini is a horrible person and toxic to so many who have the misfortune to come in contact with her.”
Read the Church’s full statement here.
Remini’s legal action is a self-described “attempt to end what she alleges are mob-style operations and attacks on her and other alleged victims and survivors of the Church of Scientology and their advocates”.
Leah Remini and David Miscavige— (Getty Images)
“The lawsuit seeks to require Scientology, and any entity it controls and funds, to cease and desist its alleged practice of harassment, defamation, and other unlawful conduct against anyone who Scientology has labelled as an ‘enemy’,” the press release continues.
“It also requests compensatory and punitive damages to compensate Remini for the harm she alleges Scientology has inflicted on her and her career.”
It adds: “The lawsuit lays out the myriad of ways in which Scientology leaders and agents, beginning in 2006, seven years before Remini left Scientology, allegedly financed and ordered coordinated campaigns against Remini, her family, friends, businesses partners, associates, advertisers, proposed future advertisers, future employers and support office staff who have never even met her.”
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Remini is demanding a trial jury, according to legal documents seen by The Independent which further list nine complaints for damages concerning alleged actions of the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), formerly known as the Guardians Office. These include “monitoring the activities of Scientologists and non-Scientologists and exacting revenge and retribution on anyone who has been declared an enemy of Scientology”, the press release says.
“The complaint alleges that attacks on Remini were activated by OSA and their operatives under [founder L Ron] Hubbard’s OSA Network Orders; meant to ‘totally restrain and muzzle,’ ‘obliterate,’ and ‘ruin utterly’ her; and demonstrate a pattern and practice of harassment, defamation, and abuse.”
On her personal Substack blog, Remini stated that with her lawsuit, she intends to “protect my rights as afforded by the Constitution of the United States to speak the truth and report the facts about Scientology”.
“I believe I am not the first person targeted by Scientology and its operations, but I intend to be the last,” Remini said.
Though categorised as a cult in Germany, the Church of Scientology is considered a religion by others and has generated headlines about teachings that many deem restrictive.
In addition to Remini, its pews have featured a wealth of A-listers throughout the years, from current members Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Moss to John Travolta, who is rumoured to have split with the church following the medical treatment and death of his wife, Kelly Preston, in 2020.
