Former King Of Queens star Leah Remini has been very public with her break and fight against the Church Of Scientology. The actress left the controversial church in 2013 and went on to speak out to ABC News before appearing in her own series on A&E to help others tell their stories.
But now Scientology is striking back in a way with their latest hit back at Remini, alleging that her and A&E helped to incite a murder at their headquarters in Sydney, Australia.
The attack itself was against 24-year-old Chih-Jen Yeh, a Scientologist and security guard at the complex. He was stabbed by the 16-year-old son of a woman as he was being escorted to his mother's "purification ceremony" according to the Sydney Morning Herald:
The boy is accused of stabbing a 24-year-old man in the neck with a large kitchen knife while being escorted from the Scientology centre in Chatswood last Thursday afternoon.
It is understood the accused was visiting the centre where his mother was to undergo a "purification ceremony".
Mr Santisi outside court described his client's situation as "one of those delicate matters".
The Church is accusing Remini, her show, and the folks at A&E for inciting the violence that led to the murder, with Scientology spokesman Karin Pouw condemning the attack and claiming the assailant was inspired by the series according to Us Weekly:
“The attacker was inspired by an anti-Scientology website that featured your people and included a link to Remini’s show,” Pouw wrote in the letter published by The Underground Bunker. “Week after week, month after month, and now year after year, this series has poisoned the airwaves in an avowed effort to create hatred against the Scientology religion and Scientologists. Hatred and propaganda always find their mark, especially among those weak and vulnerable to their appeals. And now it has born strange and bitter fruit.”
Before this moment, we had quite the road with Remini and Scientology, who is only the latest high-profile former member to come out and condemn the organization and its leadership.
Remini, like many famous members of Scientology, was raised in the Church from nine-years-old forward after her mother joined. This led to her move to Los Angeles at thirteen and remained until 2016.
Remini's vocal exit from the Church of Scientology was preceded by the HBO documentary Going Clear, based on the Lawrence Wright book of the same name.
Along with South Park, this was many people's introduction to the practices and history of the Church and was met with a fierce defensive by the organization and its members.
Soon after, Remini sat down with ABC News to talk her exit from the organization and what she witnessed. This led to the release of her memoir and then her A&E series which started a vocal, outspoken campaign against the Church.
She has lashed out at famous members like John Travolta, claimed the Church was protecting The Ranch star Danny Masterson from his rape accusations and helped former members tell their own stories since the show premiered.
As a result, Remini and co-host Mike Rinder claim to still get death threats and attacks from the Church, telling Us Weekly they "try to destroy our lives":
The church says she “has made anti-religious bigotry her private cottage industry.”
Remini, 48, says she’s able to cope with the backlash from the church because, “I just know it’s what Scientology does. They just use any avenue they can.” For more on Remini and Scientology, check out the video above.
She has also made specific allegations against Tom Cruise in recent months, saying he was involved in the abuses detailed in Going Clear directly and wasn't just the Church's top star and public face:
“I think people think [Cruise is] an innocent victim in all of this. Most Scientologists are, and I can actually say this about most Scientologists because I was in it, so I know my own heart,” Remini explains. “They told me not to look at certain things, and the quote that they used would be ‘don’t forward an enemy line,’ which means you reading a magazine, or a book, or watching Going Clear is forwarding an ‘enemy line...
“Where Tom is concerned, that is very different,” she adds. “He is very aware of the abuses that go on in Scientology. He’s been part of it.”
Whether Remini and the show are responsible in some manner doesn't really matter to the case itself. The young man who attacked security still killed someone and that is that when you boil it down. Why he did it or his motivations are secondary to what he actually did.
And even if it true that the anti-Scientology dialogue helped inspire this attack, blaming it solely on Remini or the show seems to be another tactic that has been publicly demonstrated by the Church in the past.
Will be interesting to see where it goes.
