The truth is a perfect defense against libel anyway. The CoS would have to prove that made factual claims that it knew to be false. They can’t claim the Xenu stuff is false (not that they would ever be wiling to submit their doctrines into the oublic record anyway). Maybe they could try to claim that the show depicted the head of the church admitting to fraud but if that character was fictional they’d probably have a hard time with it. Plus they’d also have to prove that a reasonable person would think that the claim was serious rather than a joke. That would basically be impossible for this show.
Anyway, if any lawsuit were to go to trial, they’d have to play the episode to a jury and have to risk the laughter of the audience. I don’t think they can go near this one, but they’ll probably write a nasty letter or two.
They dared the Scientologists to sue them. And then they “hid” who they really were.
I kinda agree with PigBoy. They’re having way to many message episodes. I miss the more bizarre stuff for the sake of bizarreness. In a way it’s just like MAS*H. I just like the earlier stuff better/
This is exactly what happened at my house, except I was telling my husband that all of it was what they believe (though of course they don’t let the newbies in on all those details, you have to have shelled out a lot of money and thus have a lot of financial and spiritual “investment” in CoS before they drop the serious WTF? stuff on you), and suddenly the caption comes up.
When Stan says, “Dad! Tom Cruise won’t come out of the closet!” we laughed for about a minute straight.
The Scientologists are litigious as hell, and have responded in other mnasty ways to criticism and unwanted publicity. Paulette Cooper’s book The Scandal of Scientology provoked an incredibly nasty response:
http://www.holysmoke.org/pc/pc.htm
Russell Miller’s The Bare-Faced Messiah is an unauthorizede bio of Hubbard, that apparently was started with their help, but they didn’t like the way it was going. They got the book locked in legal limbo for quoting their copyrighted texts. Truth and accuracy aren’t necessarily a defence. I got hold of a copy of this as soon as it came out, but it disappeared very soon after that. I have a copy of Cooper’s book, too, but it wasn’t easy to find. Now you can get both on the internet:
http://www.holysmoke.org/pc/pc.htm
Even 60 Minutes has been cowed by them. After they ran a piece on Scientology, the Cult made a legal case against them for, again, quoting their “copyrighted” texts (what other cult copyrights its texts?), with the result that transcripts of those shows are no longer available.
In light of the above, I’m interested tlo see how this plays out. I’m still waiting for the third part of the three-part series on Scientology in the magazine Gauntlet that never appeared.
This episode was one of the greats – right up there with the “NAMBLA” and “Mecha-Streisand” stories, IMHO. Didn’t this episode also mark a return to classic form in another way – restoring the original quartet of Kyle/Stan/Eric/Kenny? I was getting rather tired of Timmy[!] and Butters… I also must commend Trey and Matt for the uncanny celebrity impressions, and esp. that of Tom Cruise.
What’s the deal with R. Kelly? I thought he was the singer who got in trouble for having sexual relations with an underage girl… or am I confused? And is he a Scientologist too?
Another thing: if Chef is becoming an occasional presence, they may be moved to make more of the Token character and his family.
He wrote a 5 part R&B Video Opera that concerns “Hiding in the Closet”
The first part was Trapped in the Closet.
I have never found anything to indicate he was a Scientologist.
You’re probably right. I can’t find anything either. I know I’ve heard it before, early in the show’s history, but then I lived in Clearwater at the time and heard a lot about the cult. Plus, I was drunk a lot of that time. Yeah, that’s it. :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:
So I’m probably wrong. Although I did say “I think”
In short, I’m an idiot and just to be safe you should ignore absolutely everything I say. Ever.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to cause pain, I had never seen or heard it and I am geeky about the show. I was not implying you were less than intelligent, I would have been shocked if they could have ever been that gullible and I was thinking maybe you heard a false rumor or were whooshed by a joke they made. Mistakes are easy, boy do I know that.
Do most Scientologists belive the Xenu story or is just some older part of the belief system that no one follows anymore? I mean, I get that it used to be a hidden secret, but any Scientologist can find out about the Xenu story free of charge now(heck, they can watch that episode). Did Scientology drop that part of the “religion”?