Leah Remini Slams Tom Cruise’s COVID Safety Rant, Says “It’s For Public Relations Reasons Only’

Cruise received widespread support after getting angry at people on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” who didn’t follow COVID safety guidelines

Leah Remini
A&E

In an open letter published Wednesday on the website The Underground Bunker, Leah Remini differed strongly with the largely positive reaction people had to Tom Cruise’s recent caught-on-tape rant about COVID safety measures. Instead, the actress argued that the outburst was an example of what she claims is Cruise’s “abusive” personality, and argued that his behavior connects back to the Church of Scientology of which she is one of the most prominent critics.

“The Church of Scientology has done more than any other religious institution in promoting COVID-19 prevention actions–throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Long before “stay at home” directives, the Church took aggressive actions to prevent the spread of the virus. The Church’s leader acted well ahead of the curve,” a representative of the Church of Scientology said in a statement. “Remini is an unreliable source who attacks Scientology for publicity and money–as she herself has admitted.”

On Tuesday, audio secretly recorded on the set of the latest “Mission: Impossible” film, in which Cruise screamed at the London-based film crew for breaking COVID-19 protocols. In his tirade, Cruise (who also serves a producer on the film) reminds them that what they’re doing on set is a model that Hollywood is looking up to — and that they better not screw things up. If the leak was intended to damage Cruise’s public reputation, it had the opposite effect as a ton of people in and out of Hollywood agreed with him. We are, after all, in the middle of a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans.

Remini however disparaged the comments as a publicity effort, which she claimed is practice associated with Scientology. Remini said also that the rant was a reflection of what she says is her personal experience with Cruise rather than something connected to the pandemic, and reiterated a familiar list of accusations of wrongdoing against Cruise and the leadership of Scientology. Cruise and the Church have consistently denied all accusations of wrongdoing.

Representatives for Cruise did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap.

Read Remini’s essay here.

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