Hollywood’s biggest movie stars are often shielded from potential threats by strong alliances that are often unnoticed by the glamor and allure that surround the actors. But every now and then, a shocking tale comes to light that reveals the covert actions taken to protect the reputation of these megastars. The most recent chapter of this tale focuses on action star, Tom Cruise, and his alleged affiliation with the Church of Scientology.
American actor-producer is among the most well-known advocates and supporters of the Church of Scientology. Recent reports claim that top Scientologist executives once went above and beyond to prevent a high-profile member (Tom Cruise) from being humiliated by an online prankster.
Well, these recently leaked documents from a former Scientologist executive showed how far the organization went to prevent a Florida college student from playing a prank on the 61-year-old actor at the Mission: Impossible III premiere in 2006.
Scientology Reportedly Became Tom Cruise’s Secret Service
Stephen ‘Josh’ Schofield, a student at the University of Central Florida (then 21 years old), devised a plan to humiliate Tom Cruise during the premiere of Mission: Impossible III in 2006.
He organized for two banners to be flown over Grauman’s Chinese Theater and pleaded on online message forums (banners) for $3,300 in donations. It was where the Hollywood elites, Cruise, and his beloved fans were supposed to gather for the premiere of Mission: Impossible 3 in Los Angeles (May 4, 2006).
The goal of the banners was to mock Cruise’s faith, especially the “galactic overlord” Xenu from the teachings of Scientology as Schofield informed Daily Mail:
“We got the idea probably after the South Park episode [mocking Scientology] came out, to try to prank Tom Cruise for being a Scientologist.”
For the unversed, the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Suri Cruise (now 17), was born on April 18—less than three weeks before the film’s premiere.
However, senior Scientologists were made aware of the planned prank weeks in advance by someone who was reading posts on the offtopic.com forum, of which Schofield was a member.
As per reports, he planned to “put up insulting banners,” which the Church’s ‘Watchdog Committee’ from their ‘Office of Special Affairs’ warned their team about on April 11. The supposed insults were labeled as:
“Both anti-Scientology and anti-Tom Cruise.”
What Additional Steps Were Taken?
Senior Scientologist, Kiersten Caetano then revealed some extraordinary actions taken to “ensure that this flyover is killed.” According to his letter, the premier’s head of security, Robert Boyland, was contacted.
After that, Boyland met with former LAPD officer and current vice president of Paramount Security Services, Scott LaChase.
“They contacted the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] about restraining the airspace as a group.”
However, the church put together a “pack” of information to support its complaint after the FAA refused to close off airspace in the absence of a “credible threat.” Caetano further stated that the prankster’s online history should be taken “seriously” despite there being no threat of physical harm.
The security department of the church and Tommy Davi sought the advice of Scott Nelson, a former FBI agent. Davi was the group’s then-chief spokesperson, and he had written a “brief” for LAPD Officer, Ron Sanchez to “determine precisely what the police can do to stop this.”
The church’s principal spokesperson, Karin Pouw, who is French-born, told the media outlet that she was unaware of the incident and was unable to find the disputed documents.
Well, at least we can be glad that nothing similar happened at the premiere of Tom Cruise’s seventh Mission: Impossible movie.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is currently playing in theaters.
Source- Daily Mail
