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On Sunday night Mike Rowe, the former Dirty Jobs host and current star of CNN’s Somebody’s Gotta Do It, used his Facebook page to vent over the treatment of Spanky Taylor that’s described in Alex Gibney’s documentary about Scientology, Going Clear. Spanky was one of eight former Church of Scientology members who appeared in the film to talk about how they got into the church but later broke away, and Spanky’s story about being assigned to the Sea Org’s prison detail and having to save her young child from a filthy group nursery is one of the most shocking parts of the movie. Continue reading Mike Rowe uses Facebook to rip Scientology over the treatment of his friend Spanky Taylor
 A very happy Easter to our readers, whether you celebrate the holiday or not. In case you missed the excitement last night, Saturday Night Live aired a pitch-perfect parody of Scientology’s 1990 video “We Stand Tall” which was featured prominently in Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear.
Gibney’s film aired on HBO Sunday night and has been repeating since then, but the amount of work that went into SNL’s spoof suggests that this has been in the works for weeks — either since Going Clear‘s theatrical run began on March 13 or perhaps as far back as when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Continue reading Saturday Night Live’s genius spoof of Scientology: Lyrics and images
 We’ve been reporting that some of the ex-Scientologists who took part in Alex Gibney’s film Going Clear have been experiencing a sharp increase in the amount of surveillance and harassment they normally have to put up with.
Perhaps no one has experienced more suspicious activity recently than Tom DeVocht, a former church executive who was close to Scientology leader David Miscavige and who revealed that Miscavige took pleasure in mocking Tom Cruise behind his back. DeVocht says in Going Clear that Miscavige had the actor’s auditing session notes sent to him daily, which contained intimate details of Cruise’s sex life, and Miscavige would share those secrets with others, including DeVocht, while drinking Scotch and laughing at Cruise. Continue reading ‘Going Clear’ subject Tom DeVocht visited by Burbank PD after suspicious anonymous tip
On Sunday morning, we published a compilation of entries written by many former Church of Scientology members, journalists, and others as they expressed their thoughts about the airing of Alex Gibney’s documentary, Going Clear.
Many of our contributors expressed some hope that Scientologists still in the church — but perhaps on the “fence” — would watch the documentary and be motivated to leave the organization. Continue reading How Scientologists are dealing with the popularity of Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear’
 Robert Vaughn Young was a national spokesman for Scientology, and he had the unenviable task of editing L. Ron Hubbard’s ten-part science fiction mess Mission Earth, which came out between 1985 and 1987. (Hubbard died in January 1986).
RVY, as he was known, left Scientology in 1989, and eight years later he was featured in the excellent Channel 4 documentary, Secret Lives — L. Ron Hubbard. For several weeks now, we’ve been bringing you original footage and outtakes from the documentary for the very first time. And today, we have Robert Vaughn Young, talking primarily about Hubbard’s final days. Continue reading Robert Vaughn Young on L. Ron Hubbard’s final days — another ‘Secret Lives’ video outtake
 Catapulting from the success of Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton, who spent the past year filing 27 lawsuits against Scientology’s drug rehab network Narconon, three attorneys who have watched Hamilton closely have filed a new class-action lawsuit against two Narconon corporations in California with two initial plaintiffs.
Indiana attorney David Miller, California attorney Michael Ram, and Seattle attorney Beth Terrell filed their suit in federal court in Northern California, and have asked for both national and regional classes to be certified as their clients sue for breach of contract, negligent representation, false advertising, and unfair competition. Continue reading CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST SCIENTOLOGY DRUG REHABS IN CALIFORNIA
Our man in Paris, journalist Jonny Jacobsen, has a fascinating piece for us today. We’ll let him explain… A judge investigating the 2006 suicide of a Scientologist in France may finally close the case because police have not been able to track down key witnesses. Officers have been looking into the death of 47-year-old Gloria Lopez (pictured), who in December 2006 stepped in front of a speeding train at Colombes station just outside Paris. But they have been unable to find three Scientologists the judge considers key to the affair, all of whom had dealings with Lopez in the months leading up to her death. Scientology executives in France have insisted they have no idea where they are. Continue reading Can you help French prosecutors find these witnesses to the death of a Scientologist?
Yesterday, Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear introduced millions of Americans to Scientology’s concepts about declaring people “suppressive” and ordering them to “disconnect” from each other, resulting in families being ripped apart.
Today, we have one of the most dramatic examples of it ever caught on tape. The Underground Bunker has obtained a stunning audio recording which captures the moment when a woman is told she is being declared a “suppressive person” or “SP” by a Scientology ethics officer, and she realizes that it may tear apart her family. Continue reading AUDIO LEAK: Hear a Scientologist being declared suppressive and facing the loss of her family
We’ve had quite a week here in the Underground Bunker counting down the days to tonight’s airing of Alex Gibney’s HBO documentary about Scientology, Going Clear. And now, finally, the country will get a chance to see what all the fuss is about. Continue reading LIVE-BLOG: Watch Alex Gibney’s HBO documentary ‘Going Clear’ and comment with us
It’s the day that many people have been waiting for. Tonight, at 8 pm Eastern time, HBO will broadcast Alex Gibney’s two-hour documentary on Scientology, Going Clear. All week we’ve been counting down the days by talking to people who appear in the film. Today, we’re talking to the rest of you. We asked many familiar names in the Underground Bunker to tell us what it means to them that this documentary is reaching such a large audience today. And in the comments, we want to hear from the rest of our great community about how you’re feeling about tonight’s event. Continue reading The crowd’s all here: What does the airing of the Scientology doc ‘Going Clear’ mean to you?
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