And so we come to the end of this lengthy year in review, which no doubt has already gone on far too long for some readers.
If we’ve been longwinded, our excuse is that 2012 has been such an exceptional year for Scientology, and there were so many disasters for the church right up to the last few weeks.
On December 10, with Gawker’s help, we brought to the world a very unusual video. During our recent visit to Los Angeles, former church member Tiziano Lugli played for us a funny song that featured several ex-Scientologists rapping about what it was like to work for David Miscavige at the International Base. We thoroughly enjoyed the rap stylings of Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder (seriously, it was dope), but what made the video go viral was that one of the people who performed on the song was Nazanin Boniadi, and she specifically name-checked the church’s three big celebrities, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley. Boniadi had become famous in Maureen Orth’s Vanity Fair story in September, but here was the first evidence of Boniadi speaking out on her own about her disillusionment with Scientology.
UPDATE: See more analysis from journalist Jonny Jacobsen after the jump. The latest: Jonny’s thoughts on the Belgian investigating magistrate, Michel Claise.
We sure picked a great day to go for a long hike.
Turns out, minutes after we left for our day-long stroll, we received an e-mail from a newspaper editor friend of ours in Ghent, Belgium. He wanted to make sure we had seen a Flemish-language story breaking the news that the Belgian government is going to prosecute the Church of Scientology as a criminal organization.
Twelve hours later, we finally saw our friend’s e-mail. Ah well. Better late than never, anyway.
OK, so you may have already heard elsewhere, but it’s still pretty interesting news…
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BELGIUM IS PROSECUTING SCIENTOLOGY AS A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION!!
We’re still looking back at this amazing year for Scientology watchers, refreshing your memory about what got our attention in 2012.
We hope you have plenty to say as we look back at the stories that mattered in the past twelve months…
As the fall began, we were enjoying all the speculation by reviewers about the Scientology content in Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie The Master. (Those that actually knew some church history recognized that the film is shot through with it.) We pointed out how Anderson’s script was even more vicious about Hubbard and his invention than the finished movie, and we heard great suggestions from our readers about who the Joaquin Phoenix character, Freddie Quell, might be based on.
By now you’ve probably seen our update on today’s year-in-review piece, or perhaps you’ve heard the news another way: Atlanta’s local media is reporting that state regulators are beginning a process to revoke the license of Scientology’s drug rehab program there, the Narconon Georgia facility which is at the center of a contentious wrongful death lawsuit.
For everyone who has followed this case closely — the folks at the Reaching for the Tipping Point forum who have worked so hard to dig up information about the facility, for example — this is stunning news.
But we want to make sure that some people — particularly the folks at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which can’t seem to write a story about Narconon without including a sneering swipe at the people who work so hard to expose Scientology’s drug rehab front group for what it is — understand that Narconon’s problems go much deeper than its licensing.
And it shouldn’t have taken the deaths of Patrick Desmond, Stacy Dawn Murphy, Hillary Holten, and Gabriel Graves to get the Narconon facilities in Atlanta and Oklahoma on the minds of government regulators.
Happy Boxing Day! We’re still looking back at this amazing year for Scientology watchers, refreshing your memory about what got our attention in 2012.
We hope you have plenty to say as we look back at the stories that mattered in the past twelve months…
One of the most surprising things about 2012 was the way that Narconon’s meltdown kept stealing the spotlight from celebrity divorce and other crises for Scientology.
UPDATE: AND RIGHT ON TIME, THE STATE OF GEORGIA FINALLY WAKES UP. In a deceptively soft-pedaled piece, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today that state regulators are planning to revoke Narconon Georgia’s license after yet another investigation into allegations that it is running an unlicensed residential program. Damning documents produced in the Patrick Desmond wrongful death lawsuit made it crystal clear that the Scientology drug rehab facility runs a housing unit even though it is not supposed to, and its own internal paperwork shows that its housing was plagued by drug use. The best part of the story is that Narconon has requested a hearing — we can only hope that it is an open event, and that the state will put on a devastating show based on what is clearly spelled out in Narconon’s own paperwork. First Quebec, now Georgia — Oklahoma, are you ready?
Merry Christmas! We’re still looking back at this amazing year for Scientology watchers, refreshing your memory about what got our attention in 2012.
We hope you have plenty to say as we look back at the stories that mattered in the past twelve months…
June 29, 2012 will be remembered as the day the news broke that Katie Holmes had filed for divorce from her husband Tom Cruise.
But that morning, we were still drowsy after breaking a very different story in the wee hours.
At 2:30 in the morning we posted what we figured was a story that would shake up the Scientology world. Instead, it got swallowed up by the tabloid tsunami which rolled out later that day and quickly would become the biggest disaster for the church this year — and perhaps for any year — when the Katie Holmes divorce filing suddenly had everyone from TMZ to the Business Insider scrambling for stories about Cruise and his odd allegiance to L. Ron Hubbard.
Six months later, we’re at enough distance that we can now look back at what actually happened during that week in late June and early July, when Scientology’s numerous crises all seemed to erupt at the same time.
We’re looking back at this amazing year for Scientology watchers, and over the next several days we’re going to refresh your memory about what got our attention in 2012.
Of course, one of the things that made this year so memorable was the level of involvement of our commenting community, and we hope you have plenty to say as we look back at the stories that mattered in the past twelve months.
As March began, the Debbie Cook lawsuit in San Antonio was still going gangbusters — that first week, Scientology filed for summary judgment against her, and her attorney, Ray Jeffrey, pushed for discovery.
But that month is also known for the holiest day on the Scientology calendar: L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday on March 13! And this year, as Ron was floating around the galaxy somewhere, his followers celebrated the 101st anniversary of the birth of his meat body with a big party in Clearwater. In April, we were leaked a video of that event, and we had loads of fun with its tall tales about Hubbard and his exploits.
We’re looking back at this amazing year for Scientology watchers, and over the next several days we’re going to refresh your memory about what got our attention in 2012.
Of course, one of the things that made this year so memorable was the level of involvement of our commenting community, and we hope you have plenty to say as we look back at the stories that mattered in the past twelve months.
On February 9, one of the most remarkable single days Scientology has ever spent in a courtroom took place down in San Antonio, Texas.
We were there, and provided live coverage as former church executive Debbie Cook testified about how she had been treated in Scientology’s notorious office-prison, known as “the Hole.”
It’s time to look back at this amazing year for Scientology watchers, and over the next several days we’re going to refresh your memory about what got our attention in 2012.
Of course, one of the things that made this year so memorable was the level of involvement of our commenting community, and we hope you have plenty to say as we look back at the stories that mattered in the past twelve months.
January sure started with a bang this year. At midnight, we put up a primer about Scientology that we’d been working on for weeks, then sat back to sip a bit of champagne to bring in the new year. Minutes later, our e-mail inbox started going crazy. Our regular tipsters were peppering us with messages — had we seen the mindblowing letter that just went out to thousands of Scientologists from a former executive named Debbie Cook?
In an Underground Bunker exclusive, we’re giving you the first look at two slick videos shot and assembled by Tiziano Lugli and numerous other former members of the Church of Scientology. Among those you’ll see are video blogger Tory Christman, former church spokesman Mike Rinder, and character actor Michael Fairman. Also taking part was Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige, who has a memoir coming out next month. (Also, a few actors helped out — hey, it’s Hollywood.)
