Leah Remini Wins Emmy, Forgives Mom For Introducing Her To ‘Cult’ That Is Scientology
Leah Remini forgave her mom for getting her into the Scientology “cult,” while accepting her Creative Arts Emmy Award on Saturday night.
“Mom, thank you. You are officially forgiven,” Deadline reports Remini said after accepting her award for Best Informational Series or Special for her A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
Remini infamously left the Church of Scientology, a religion that she had been a member of since she was teenager, in 2013. Aftermath focuses on the lives of those who contend their lives have been adversely impacted by the religion and its stringent list of guidelines.
The former King of Queens star went on dedicate her award to “our brave contributors who, despite ongoing risk and repercussion, spoke out and told their stories.”
Just a few months earlier, Remini walked away with the Television Critics Association award for best reality-series.
“I spent most of my life being told the world outside Scientology would fail me, that I would fail, and that without it I wasn’t worth a whole lot,” she said back then. “I thank you for proving those theories wrong.”
Since creating Aftermath, Remini has engaged in a never-ending war of words with Scientology church leaders, who USA Today reports have blasted the show as “salacious lies to promote A&E’s ugly brand of religious intolerance, bigotry and hatred.”
Remini countered by arguing that since she once spent so much time promoting the religion, she now feels an obligation to let everyone know what she came to realize it truly stands for.
Remini is on record in asserting that she is convinced church leaders are so willing to cater to the whims of star members like Tom Cruise and John Travolta, that either of them could get away with murder in the eyes of fellow members.
Remini has also previously accused high-ranking members of regularly brainwashing and abusing other members.
Church leaders lament that all of Remini’s negative bashing has now led to countless death threats, dangerous acts of vandalism, and bullying, and all of it is “directed at everyday parishioners.”
According to Scientology officials, sources for Remini’s Aftermath show are paid for their information, and showrunner Myles Reiff has a resume that includes working for the production company that produced a hate-filled and short-lived KKK show where sources were also paid.
[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]