LA Mayor Karen Bass to have another awkward Scientology moment, thanks to Tom Cruise?
You’ve no doubt seen the news: Not only has Scientology’s chief ornament, actor Tom Cruise, been knighted by France while he’s in Paris to see the Olympic Games, but he’s also scheduled to perform a death-defying stunt during the Closing Ceremonies at the Stade de France on August 11.
Why Cruise? Well, at the end of this Olympiad, Paris will be handing off the Olympic flag to the City of Los Angeles, which will host the next games in 2028. And with the next Summer Olympiad in La La Land, it’s pretty obvious to go Hollywood with it.
Media outlets are saying that Cruise will rappel from the top of the stadium and will then grab the Olympic flag and, in pre-recorded footage, fly it over to LA, where he will parachute onto the Hollywood sign (a scene which was apparently filmed back in March).
Press coverage has been agog with the usual exclamations about Tom performing his own stunts, yadda, yadda, yadda.
But we immediately realized there’s bound to be an awkward moment during the spectacle.
Before Tom can grab that Olympic flag, it will have been handed over from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right? So will Cruise, after dropping into the stadium in dramatic fashion, receive it from Bass or grab it from her?
In other words, for the Cruise stunt to work, doesn’t Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have to be in on the gag?
And why does that matter?
Well, let us remind you about Bass’s history with promotions involving the Church of Scientology.
In 2020, when word began to spread that Bass might be on the short list to become Joe Biden’s running mate that year, the conservative publication Breitbart wrote about footage from ten years earlier, when Bass, who was then a member of California’s state assembly, had spoken at the grand opening of Scientology’s “Ideal Org” in LA.
“As a public servant, I try to do everything in my power to give a voice to the voiceless, and to guarantee that no one goes unheard,” Bass said during her short speech at the event. “But through human rights education, we empower everyone to lift their voice and to be heard. The Church of Scientology I know has made a difference, because your Creed is a universal creed and one that speaks to all people everywhere.”
She also said: “The words are exciting of your founder, L. Ron Hubbard, in The Creed of the Church of Scientology: that all people of whatever race, color or creed, are created with equal rights. It’s a remarkable credit to your church that this is part of your creed.”
After Breitbart dug up that footage, Bass responded by putting out a statement saying that she was a Baptist, that she had gone to the opening of the new facility because it was in her district, and that revelations about Scientology in recent years (such as Leah Remini’s A&E series) had educated everyone about the group.
We then posted a story pointing out that, in fact, the new Ideal Org was not in Bass’s district in 2010, and also that it was ludicrous to say that Scientology’s abuses had only become known in the last few years.
Bass then had to put out another statement, admitting that her previous statement was written by one of her staffers, and yes, that the Ideal Org wasn’t in her district.
It was an embarrassing incident and handled poorly by Bass, who was ultimately not chosen to be Biden’s running mate. However, we also pointed out that Bass was at least criticizing Scientology openly and did not appear to have any ties with it.
When Bass ran for mayor in 2022, her opponent Rick Caruso brought up the footage again, and implied that she was more sympathetic to Scientology than she was letting on. Bass characterized Caruso’s ad as an act of desperation, and told ABC-7 that it was a distortion of her views.
“I am a Baptist. My minister is Norman Johnson, and I have never ever been affiliated with Scientology and absolutely condemn their practices,” she told the station.
Bass and Caruso then tried to outdo each other bad-mouthing Scientology, which really alarmed church leader David Miscavige, who responded with a massive advertising campaign that swamped LA media outlets.
Bass won the election, and Mike Rinder has told us that Bass (a former Congresswoman) really is sincere about learning about Scientology’s abuses and helping Mike and Leah Remini with their efforts.
So, given that background, and Bass’s supposed new focus on exposing Scientology’s bad practices, how will it look if she’s participating with Scientology’s chief asset at the Stade de France at the Closing Ceremonies?
Scientology, after all, opened up a new “Ideal Org” in April that is just down the road from the stadium, and in every press release about the place they have crowed about how the Closing Ceremonies will be taking place so close to a Scientology indoctrination station. Has Miscavige known about Tom’s stunt, and was it part of the reason he wanted the Ideal Org open before the games?
We have a feeling that press outlets will still be so in awe of Tom hanging by a rope in the stadium to raise many questions about Scientology’s most famous deadbeat dad, a figure who single-handedly is the biggest reason that an abusive group like Scientology is able to escape more extensive law enforcement scrutiny, may be getting a boost once again from Karen Bass, mayor of the city that will host the next Olympiad.
We can’t wait to see how that goes down.
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My suggestion, all of us LA residents write Karen Bass’s office today and protest. Actually any who disagrees with Cruise representing Los Angeles should write, because he positions Hollywood with one of the most abusive, destructive pseudo-religious organizations in the world. Not to mention he is a resident of Clearwater, Florida the world center of Scientology. Tony points out Cruise has done more to white wash Scientology’s reputation than any other single human being.
As a long time resident of Los Angeles this is unacceptable. I’m also writing the LA Times.
It was very magnanimous of you to call Breitbart a "publication". After all that Breitbart has done to attack people and try to push them to suicide, I know I could never be that kind.