Scientology, Accused of Snooping on Celebs, Lashes Out at Anderson Cooper
Cult leaders are worried about defector Amy Scobee's new book, out later this month, which alleges that church leaders snoop in celebrity files for fun. Responding, in the Daily News, spokesman Tommy Davis also spared some ire for Anderson Cooper.
The story, in the Rush and Molloy gossip column, alleges that the 'church' leader David Miscavige (pictured here and always referred to by members, somewhat creepily as 'Mr David Miscavige') snooped through files of dirt he keeps on celebrities. Apparently he giggled like a kid at the revelations in Lisa Marie Presley's dossier.
Scobee, via Rush and Molloy, also claims that:
- Miscavige prides himself on having memorized "the sexual irregularities of practically every staff member" at one facility.
- He also once dressed his dog, Jellie, in an officer's uniform because he felt that the beagle could do a better job than his staff. They had to salute the dog.
- Officials question Scientologist staff members who work for celebrities to check they are not deviating from the cult's moral code.
Responding to the claims, creepy church spokesperson Tommy Davis said he's "fed up" with all the coverage church defectors get, including a recent investigation on Anderson Cooper 360. "[Our members] are going to Haiti," he told the Daily News, "spending millions to charter planes to fly in supplies and doctors and nurses," says Davis. "All the while Anderson Cooper is in his designer T-shirts, just standing around, while we're helping people for real."
Of course it's not that simple. The Scientologists 'help' often involves trying to heal people through touch. Accounts we have heard imply that they were, when the earthquake struck, dangerously unprepared. Our source said at the time:
...they brought the weirdness of touch healing into a very superstitious society. They'd leave the tent and come into the general hospital downtown, and try healing people. One of the doctors and one of the nurses told me that the wounded started coming to them to tell them they didn't want to be treated by the people in the yellow shirts.
One nurse told me that the Scientologists actually caused harm - they gave food to people who were scheduled to go into surgery. That then led to complications in the operating theater.