Scientology boasts about LA wildfires response — with celebrity glam thrown in

[Jade Pettyjohn to the rescue]

And here we thought Scientology’s Freedom magazine was dead.

It hasn’t put out an issue since 2018, after several years during which it gamely tried to appear like a serious social issues publication. And apparently some of the notable editors we associated with it, like John Sugg and Jennifer Lankheim, are long gone.

These days Freedom exists only as an online publication that puts out the usual propaganda and an occasional hit piece by someone calling themselves “Logan H. Merrill.” (Is this yet another sock puppet, like “Martin Landon” for mild-mannered scourge Michael Lewis? We don’t know.)

Anyway, after Scientology put out several press releases about its “Volunteer Ministers” doing a heckuva job using the catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles for photo opportunities, it was Freedom’s turn to take a crack at trying to get someone, anyone, to pay attention to all the great things the VMs are doing!

A sample passage should give you some sense of the sort of pandering going on here that David Miscavige expects from his house organs…

Deep in those devastated hills, a van driven by Scientology Volunteer Ministers (VMs) had been granted entry past the checkpoints guarded by the Los Angeles Fire Department and the National Guard. Their mission was to deliver supplies to first responders at the frontline — water, protein bars, hot food or medicine, whatever was needed.

But en route, the team came across a new fire beginning to spread. “We hit a wall of heat and smoke,” actress Jade Pettyjohn, one of the VMs in the van, told Freedom. “There were no firefighters in sight. So we looked at each other and we said, ‘We have to put that fire out.’”

What’s that? An actress?

The article included this shot of Jade Pettyjohn, 24, in her yellow VM windbreaker on her way to the front lines.

“Over the past week, I’ve been volunteering and I am deeply moved by just how many people have come together to help one another. The generosity, resilience and humanity within this city is powerful. In the midst of heartache and devastation, all you need to do is look up and you will see an army of people who are there helping,” she wrote at her official Instagram account, but didn’t mention anything about Scientology.

Copies of Advance! magazine show that Jade completed OT 5 last year, so she’s a pretty dedicated Hubbardite.

Oh, and she and Nicole Kidman worked together on the 2018 film Destroyer, a movie that had Kidman playing a former undercover cop, and garnered her a Golden Globe nomination.

Wonder what they talked about.

(And before we get asked how a dedicated Scientologist like Jade would be allowed to work with such a notorious Suppressive Person like Nicole, we will remind you that Scientology celebrities get to break all the rules, as long as they are getting work and bringing in the cheddar and spending it on the church.)

Anyway, it’s interesting to see Scientology grooming Jade for such a visible role in the wildfire response, what the church considers a “historic opportunity” of publicity.

Here’s Jade’s bio at imdb:

Jade Pettyjohn was born in Los Angeles, California. She graduated high school with honors in 2018. Her early work consisted of guest-starring roles in one hour dramatic episodic as well as independent feature films alongside award-winning actors such as Kenneth Branagh, Johnny Depp, Tony Collette, and J.K. Simmons. For three seasons, she held the series regular role of Summer on the twice Emmy-nominated series, School of Rock. Jade worked opposite Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman in Karyn Kusama's Destroyer, and Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress, Laura Dern in Edward Zwick's Trial by Fire. She played the pivotal role of Caroline Woolgarden, an 1800's prostitute who has a strong connection to Ian McShane's character, Al Swearengen, in the HBO Emmy-nominated Deadwood: The Movie. Jade stars alongside Academy Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon and award-winning actress, Kerry Washington in Hulu's limited series, Little Fires Everywhere.

And she’s OT and a VM.

Can a Freedom Medal be far behind?

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