Has Scientology Been Protecting Danny Masterson From Rape Allegations?

Scientologist Danny Masterson is pushing back against Netflix and the four women who allege that Masterson raped them around 2001. But even though the alleged rapes took place nearly seventeen years ago, and the women have been speaking out for years, the Church of Scientology is saying that this is the first they’ve heard about the accusations against one of their prominent members. Now, people from deep in the Church of Scientology are saying that Scientology had knowledge of Masterson’s questionable behavior long before the story broke and Masterson was fired from Netflix.

Former members of the Church of Scientology say that celebrity members of Scientology like Danny Masterson are thought of as “golden geese” and the PR branch of Scientology protects those people, doing what they can to quash books and articles about the personal lives of those members.

The Church of Scientology worked overtime to stop the sales of books by former Scientology members Leah Remini and Ron Miscavige, the father of Scientology leader, David Miscavige. Ron Miscavige said that Tom Cruise and the reputation of Tom Cruise is the most important thing to David Miscavige because of what Cruise could do for The Church of Scientology.

“He was deeply impressed with the public relations potential that Cruise could lend to Scientology.”

When, despite the attempts by the Church of Scientology to handle the Masterson matter in-house, one of the victims went to the LAPD to file a complaint, Scientology leaders stepped up to defend Masterson.

“A little more than a year after the assault, the church bombarded the LAPD with affidavit after affidavit from church members defending Masterson. The church rallied around him.”

Chris Shelton said that he believes that Scientology will continue to back Danny Masterson.

“They will keep lying, lying and lying. They’ll cover up and double down.”

Reps from the Church of Scientology say that they never ignored reports of criminal behavior by Danny Masterson, and has done nothing to protect Masterson from prosecution.

“The church adamantly denies that it ever ignores any allegations of criminal behavior, especially at the expense of alleged victims. What is being stated is utterly untrue. This has nothing to do with religion. This story is being manipulated to push a bigoted agenda. The church follows all laws and cooperates with law enforcement. Any statement or implication to the contrary is false.”

Several people in the Church of Scientology say that Scientology systematically covers up the misdeeds of prominent members like Danny Masterson, says PageSix. Chris Shelton, who left the Church of Scientology in 2012 says that Scientology silences members who want to take complaints to the police.

“The church works to protect the church first.”

Protecting the Church of Scientology and its members’ reputations is the most important thing.

“[The Church of Scientology] considers anyone outside the church to be a ‘wog,’ which is a defamatory word describing non-members … It creates an ‘us versus them’ mentality [and tells] members that ‘wogs’ at law enforcement won’t protect them.”

Scientology critic Tony Ortega stated that Scientology members are not allowed to file a lawsuit against another member of Scientology.

“For example, one of Masterson’s accusers … went to the church in 2003 to report the incident.”

One of the women who accused Danny Masterson, herself a member of the Church of Scientology, was asked to undergo intensive counseling to find out what she had done to cause the attack.

“That is how Scientology handled sexual assault.”

Tony Ortega says that the women who accused Danny Masterson were “brutally interrogated” by senior members of the Church of Scientology.

“At the same time, Danny [Masterson] was being interrogated [by a senior member]. It would have been videotaped. They are manic about keeping records. To my knowledge, none of this was given to the LAPD.”

After Leah Remini’s docu-series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath came out, another woman accusing Danny Masterson came forward and reported an attack to the LAPD, according to People. As a result, a rep for Danny Masterson came forward to say that it’s untrue that anyone gets special treatment in Scientology.

“Based on reading the anti-Scientology blog that posted this story, these false allegations appear to be motivated to boost Leah Remini’s anti-Scientology television series since [redacted] only came forward after connecting with Leah Remini,” reads a portion of the statement.”

Danny Masterson grew up in a family that followed the teachings of Scientology, and Masterson himself says he started deeply studying L. Ron Hubbard at the age of 15.