With all of their purported super powers, the OTs of Scientology were unable to fend off a double-bullseye yesterday as the church was rocked by two very different kinds of storms.
In New York, on Tuesday evening we were surprised that we got to have dinner with former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder on the very day his new book — A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology — was published by Simon & Schuster (see our review here, if you haven’t already). We were surprised because we knew he was inundated with media requests and we figured we wouldn’t even be able to get a word in edgewise with him until the dust settled.
But it turned out that he had come into town a little early and he actually had some free time. So we met in midtown for a great Italian meal with a delicious side dish of Scientology chisme.
While we can’t divulge much from that conversation, we can tell you what Mike himself told us over pasta because he also revealed it at his blog: His scheduled appearance on Wednesday morning on CBS was scrapped.
Because of storm coverage, we asked?
No, because Scientology’s attorneys had been rattling their sabers.
Say what?
So, some 15 years after Mike Rinder came out of Scientology, some 13 years after he began going public with what he had seen while in its ranks as a high-ranking executive, seven years after he appeared in HBO’s Going Clear, and after three seasons of the Emmy-winning A&E series Scientology and the Aftermath (2016-2019) — all of which resulted in zero lawsuits from Scientology — and after Simon & Schuster, one of the country’s biggest and most powerful publishers put Mike’s book in stores around the country, CBS was shuddered into silence by David Miscavige’s legal chihuahuas.
It’s stunning, it really is. Come on, CBS, stiffen that spine and air the interview.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Scientology was being hit with another whammy as Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida not too far from Clearwater and Scientology’s spiritual mecca, the Flag Land Base. We are waiting for damage reports, and we are hoping to hear from a number of our readers in the area to make sure that they are OK.
But our readers brought to our attention a news story from the area that seemed to capture Scientology’s arrogance and cluelessness at the same time.
It was a labor journalist who first published communications from Postcardmania CEO Joy Gendusa that the Clearwater mail-order business would work through the hurricane, and that she expected employees not only to be at their desks but also to bring their kids and pets to the building in case they were, you know, worrying about dying or something.
Vice then picked up the story and had a ball with it, pointing out that once the news had gotten out that Gendusa’s insane company memo was rapidly going viral the company announced that the business would actually be closed and that they simply meant the building could be used as a shelter. (Yeah, sure.)
And then Creative Loafing Tampa Bay added the delicious final layer to the story: Gendusa, of course, is a well known Scientologist in the area, and Postcardmania is known as a sort of employment agency for Scientologists living near the base.
We thought Stefani Hutchison’s droll observation about the situation said it best…
Ah, Scientology it will never change. At a time when its spiritual headquarters was facing an existential threat, it was expecting employees to stay at their desks, while they were dispatching their attorneys to New York to go after the hurricane hitting them from Simon & Schuster.
Well, CBS may have blanched, but Megyn Kelly didn’t, who had Rinder on her SiriusXM two-hour show, and Mike will be giving plenty of other interviews to media with more sand than CBS.
We can’t wait to hear about more fallout.
And to our Florida readers, please do check in and let us know that you’re OK. We rode out Wilma in 2005 in Fort Lauderdale, and it was no joke. Keep safe out there.
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
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It was very quiet here at my place which is about five minutes away from FLAG. Clearwater was spared the devastating impact of the hurricane but unfortunately still suffers from the devastating impact of Scientology. Clean up may still take awhile.
"Ah, Scientology it will never change. " Instead of 'Ah', should it not be 'Arrrrrrggghh!!!' The arrogance of Joy Gendusa is not to underestimated. I bet they are trying to or have opened 'postcardmania' today.