The past year was an "annus horribilis" for Scientology, and the coming year looks to be even horribilis-er! A lot has happened in Scientology-watching since I abandoned this blog years ago, but 2023 was a banner year. Some highlights:
Danny Masterson, TV star (That '70s Show) and member of a Scientology family, was convicted of two counts of rape (of three charged) and sentenced to two consecutive sentences. He'll be eligible for parole in 2053. Claire Headley, a former high-level official in Scientology, testified in the second trial that Scientology's policy of never going to the authorities with a complaint explains why the victims did not report the attacks when they happened years ago. The first trial resulted in a hung jury, so her testimony may have resolved some doubt for the jurors. You can find a transcript of her testimony at the Substack blog of journalist and long-time Scientology critic Tony Ortega.
SPTV (Suppressive Persons TV) movement. At the beginning of 2023, Aaron Smith-Levin, one of the exes who appeared on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, used his YouTube Channel, Growing up in Scientology, to ramp up truth-telling by ex-members. He switched from daily pre-recorded videos to livestreams of news (especially the Masterson trial) and interviews. He helped other ex-members start their own channels. The advent of StreamYard for live-streaming exploded this potential. Ex-members who were already Youtubers joined the movement, mainly using livestreaming technology. Over the year, there were group chats, fund-raisers, game nights, and the rise of "Never-ins" -- supporters who were never in Scientology. Fans/followers came up with the SPTV idea, and created logos and video "bumpers" - intro videos - that were freely shared. They also support creators with superchats, donations, and by buying "merch" and books. The movement has suffered classic internet drama and division, but as a never-in, I celebrate the exes' courage in speaking out about their experiences and supporting each other. Smith-Levin's goal was to flood the internet with so many channels that Scientology's attack wing, OSA (Office of Special Affairs) would be unable to keep up. A few content creators have experienced stalking or other tactics, but most seem to be unaffected and undaunted. Kudos to all of them! They all present unique perspectives on a complex cult.
Scientology Auditing is the most recent poke in Scientology's eye. No, this isn't the "auditing" that Scientologists do with the help of a device similar to a lie detector (e-meter). This movement is an outgrowth of police auditing, or First-Amendment auditing, in which citizens with cell phones livestream police actions on the street. It began when William Gude, a.k.a. Streets L.A. happened to be livestreaming on TikTok for his "Film the Police L.A." project (X/Twitter link) near one of the Scientology buildings in Los Angeles. A Scientology staff member mixed it up with the wrong person! Gude is well aware of his First Amendment rights, the laws about privacy (and lack thereof in a public space), and he pivoted to "auditing" Scientology on a new YouTube channel, Scientology Audit (Streets LA. Ironically, he wound up exposing a connection to his original target, the Los Angeles Police Department! Scientology has "safe-pointed" the LAPD (befriended them in order to be able to use them against their enemies), and there is video proof. A few of Gude's fellow auditors joined him, then ex-members with YouTube channels joined him, then people in other cities followed suit, and there is now a full-fledged protest movement shutting down the retail activities of Scientology. (TikTok shut down some auditors' accounts, so the movement is just YouTube now. In Los Angeles, LAPD responds to Scientology's bogus complaints while ignoring auditors' calls when they've been assaulted. Several people have been taken to jail only to have their charges thrown out. A few news outlets have picked up the story, and now what began as a few minutes of unnecessary bullying of one person with a cell phone grew into very bad PR for Scientology.
Today, ex-member Alex Barns-Ross, a.k.a. Apostate Alex, is live-streaming a protest in honor of LRH's birthday at the London "org" (organization, or branch). There are so many simultaneous livestreams and so many hours in each stream that it's impossible for anyone to keep up. Former member Natalie Webster, an experienced podcaster, recently began a series of daily wrap-ups on her channel, Scientology: Life after a Cult. Her followers send timestamps and clips so you can get a picture of daily events while still having a life. Thank you, Natalie!
Leah Remini Lawsuit: Predictably, Remini's TV series drew the ire of Scientology. Long ago, L. Ron Hubbard directed the organization to attack "suppressive persons" and destroy them "utterly," in a policy originally called "fair game." The current leader, David Miscavige, is just as vindictive as Hubbard. The policy includes attacks on the business activities of its enemies. Remini and Mike Rinder, her co-star on the series, continued their work in a podcast series called "Fair Game" (apple podcast link), which lost its contract, costing them money. (They resurrected it on YouTube for a few months: playlist link). She alleges other business losses due to fair gaming. Because Remini alleges financial losses, there's a tort, i.e. grounds for a lawsuit. In addition to financial claims, she's demanding an end to the practices in general, not just an end to harrassment and attacks on her. This could be big, and if she doesn't agree to a settlement (I doubt she will), the trial could be very bad PR for Scientology. Stay tuned!
These are YouTube channels I recommend:
Weekly Updates:
- Chis Shelton interviews Tony Ortega weekly on Mondays, summarizing news items that Tony covers in his Substack blog. The videos are titled "Straight up and Vertical," poking fun at Scientology's term for rising statistics. (Scientology units and workers are pressed to show positive statistics weekly.) Shelton's channel is 10 years old, and he has organized much of his content into playlists, including the Straight Up and Vertical series.
Daily Updates:
- Natalie Webster's Scientology" Life after a Cult, summarizes SPTV and Scientology auditing highlights from the previous day. She streams at 10:00 a.m. Central Time, U.S. Trigger warning: she doesn't give trigger warnings when she plans to show violent content, so if you are sensitive, you may need to be careful.
- Aaron Smith-Levin goes live whenever there's news, keeping to one topic in each video. He may stream as many as five times during the day. His channel is named Growing up in Scientology, (though he rarely discusses his childhood).
- Apostate Alex, based in London, reports on news in England... and he is sometimes the newsmaker! He has uncovered corruption in the small town where LRH's "Saint Hill" compound is located. He has also organized protests there and in London.
- Mike Rinder has occasionally posted videos about recent events. With his insider's perspective of fair game tactics, his commentary is enlightening. Don't expect frequent updates, but subscribe anyway for golden content.
- PTS for Life, a.k.a. Jeff Beaumont, covers Scientology in Canada. (PTS stands for "potential trouble source" - someone who associates with negative influences. It is a status that you can shed by disconnecting from those influences, including family members who have left Scientology and spoken out.)
- The Scientology Money Project channel is a companion to Jeffery Augustine's Scientology Money Project blog, which will be 10 years old next month. He lives in Los Angeles he livestreams from the Scientology properties frequently while walking his dog. (He shares his channel with a satirist named E. Stuart Mills, who looks suspiciously like Augustine, but has gray hair and is one of the bad guys)
- Blown for Good: Marc and Claire Headley's shared channel, named for his original internet moniker and title of his autobiography (order it here). Marc has a series called "Spy Files" in which he reads from leaked OSA documents detailing spy tactics and the email chains that can get quite involved. If you want to learn what it's like to work in a dysfunctional organization with a micromanaging boss and mission creep for every task you're assigned, it's worth subscribing just for that. Marc worked at "Int(ernational) Base" in California, where he and Mitch Brisker, who recently left, started a channel, and published a book, worked on training films. Claire has a "Where's Shelly" series, which discusses the most famous disappeared Scientology member/worker, Shelly Miscavige, wife of current leader David Miscavige.
- Dazed but Not Confuzed: Late, beloved ex-member Doug Kramer created his channel anew after his previous channel had been taken down. He had a unique viewpoint, as a "public" member (parishioner, not a member of the Sea Organization) and as an actor who was drawn into Scientology through acting classes. He was unique in many other ways, and his content included other cults and narcissism. He died from a heart attack in December, 2023.
- Scientology: Peeling the Onion: Janis Gillham Grady, who as a teen worked directly with L. Ron Hubbard as one of the "Commodore's messengers" on Hubbard's ship, Apollo, has an impressive collection of photographs from the 1960s and 1970s. She and her friend Mark Fisher tell their own stories and interview others from the baby boom / hippie generation. Though Scientology was always a toxic organization, the culture in those times allowed for some good times mixed with the bad. The channel began in April, 2023 and has added an impressive amount of content to the SPTV movement.
- Surviving Scientology is a 10-year old channel by Karen de la Carriere, Jeffery Augustine's wife and long-time critic. Her channel began when YouTube permitted only short videos, so check out the playlists for interviews. The channel includes some commercial content as well, mainly news programs that reported on Scientology.
- Underground Bunker TV: Tony Ortega's podcast channel, which includes news and interviews. Tony is a journalist, and his "beat" has been Scientology since 1995. In 2015 he published a book about Scientology's fair gaming of fellow journalist Paulette Cooper: The Unbreakable Miss Lovely. (amazon link) His substack blog is named The Underground Bunker.
- 60 Minutes Australia has covered Scientology a few times (and re-used some footage). Their Cults and Extreme Religions playlist includes several videos about Scientology.
- Amy Scobee has been speaking out against Scientology for a long time, and resurrected her channel to join the SPTV movement. She published an autobiography and then read from it, with commentary, on her channel. She was one of the executives sent to "The Hole," where executives were expected to do some version of their jobs in a prison version of Lord of the Flies. She also suffered medical consequences from being forced to do the "Purification Rundown," in which people down dangerously high doses of Niacin and are forced to sweat out "toxins" and drugs in saunas for hours at a time. She escaped from her Scientology with her auditing partner, Mat Pesch, whom she married. Leah Remini's series began with a touching interview of Amy and her dying mother.
- ToryMagoo44 is Tory Christman's channel. She left Scientology in 2000 after 30 years as a member. She began speaking out right away -- before there was a YouTube and before there was Google! (Her father was Paul Christman, a football player whose jersey number was 44). She has embraced the SPTV and auditing movements. She looks like a fragile Barbie doll but she is badass and sharp as a tack!
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