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David Miscavige’s nod to John Travolta debunks another tabloid ‘leaving Scientology’ fantasy

Earlier this year, the Daily Mail proposed that because flight data showed that Tom Cruise had not flown his helicopter into East Grinstead in the last three years, it suggested that Cruise was no longer visiting Scientology’s UK headquarters there at Saint Hill Manor, and so he appeared to be leaving Scientology []

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Scientology boasts that it has more big donors than ever in new flier

[We’re learning more about Tom Cruise’s big night at the Patrons Ball]

We want to thank the reader who forwarded to us a flier they received from the New York Scientology org, which is planning on showing a video of the recent IAS Patrons Ball this []

Tom Cruise goes black tie for Scientology at ‘Patrons Ball’ in England

What a weekend Scientology had!

The return of the International Association of Scientologists gala to Scientology’s UK headquarters — Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England — after a four year absence was more than even we had dared to dream. It had everything, from the triumphant return of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, to the dramatic []

Scientology protest goes off without a hitch, and Tom Cruise made the scene

We hope you joined our live conversation yesterday afternoon with Alex Barnes-Ross, who was in an East Grinstead pub and told us about his adventures protesting at Scientology’s UK []

Is this the lamest tabloid ‘Tom Cruise has left Scientology’ speculation ever?

 You’ll have to forgive us that we didn’t get to this sooner, because we were just out of surgery and lying rather helpless in a hospital bed last week when the Daily Mail’s entertainment gossip columnist Alison Boshoff “reported” that Tom Cruise has stopped going to Scientology’s UK headquarters for the past three []

Valerie Haney: Here’s why the press should be asking Tom Cruise about Shelly Miscavige

[Valerie Haney and Tom Cruise]

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One hasn’t done quite the business that its creators were hoping, but still, with $91 million in domestic sales and $168 million overseas for a total of $259 million as of yesterday, it was well along to making up for its whopping $290 []

Scientology’s lobbyist: He was sent to DC with a secret mission, and we have it

[Greg Mitchell and Renee Bessone]

For quite a few years now stories have popped up occasionally in the media about Scientology’s DC lobbyist, Greg Mitchell. Usually, they’re some version of, “no way, Scientology has a []

Our mission, that we chose to accept: Watching Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt become a cult leader

Once again Luke Y. Thompson (AV Club) has given us an exclusive film review you’ll find only here at the Bunker. Our association with Luke goes back more than 20 years, to a now defunct publication, New Times Los Angeles, where he was one of the very few reviewers in the country who actually liked []

Richard Belzer, and that time he got us in to see Tom Cruise roast Matt Lauer

[Belzer, center, with Jeff Ross, left, and Jim Carrey honoring Jerry Lewis on his 90th at the Friar’s Club in 2016]

 We were very sad to hear about Richard Belzer’s passing. It was reported that he died in France this week at the age of 78 after some years there dealing with illness.

His last words were []

We asked a film critic: What are the odds Tom Cruise gets a statue at the Oscars this year?

 Last May we commissioned our old friend Luke Y. Thompson (AV Club) to review Top Gun: Maverick for the Underground Bunker, and we still think it’s the best written about that movie. This time, we asked him what the odds are that Scientology watchers will have to witness Tom Cruise taking home an Oscar now []