Ellen Page Doubles Down on Criticism of Chris Pratt, Gets Support From Leah Remini

Ellen Page is not backing down on her criticism of Chris Pratt for supporting an 'infamously [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Ellen Page is not backing down on her criticism of Chris Pratt for supporting an "infamously anti-LGBTQ" church.

While on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier this week, Pratt spoke about being a member of Hillsong Church and his spirituality. Page, whose own recent appearance on Colbert went viral thanks to her passionate plea for more leaders who speak out against hate, tweeted a story on the interview, adding, "Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?"

Page's comment was met with negative responses from Twitter users, but the Umbrella Academy star would not apologize for taking a stand.

"If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don't be surprised if someone simply wonders why it's not addressed. Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren't two sides," Page wrote. "The damage it causes is severe. Full stop. Sending love to all."

Page continued in another tweet, adding, "If lgbtq+ people are expressing their pain, their trauma, their experiences...maybe just try and listen? Open your heart, stop being defensive and have compassion. It's a beautiful and life changing feeling, empathy. Much love truly to all."

Leah Remini, who has spoken out against Scientology, showed her support for Page's position.

"Agreed. What does Greta Van Susteren, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Laura Prepon, Jenna Elfman, Beck, Ann Archer, Kirstie Alley, Giovani Ribisi, Elizabeth Moss, Michael Pena, Nancy Cartwright... have to say about these teachings," Remini wrote, listing famous celebrity Scientologists.

One user asked Page if Pratt's church affiliation should be addressed at all, and she quickly responded that it has to be.

"Why does it HAVE to be addressed?? Why can't people just respect his beliefs? Are we really judging 1 Individual because of the company he keeps?" the person wrote.

"Um. Yeah. That's called complacency," Page replied.

Like Scientology, Hillsong Church has a big celebrity membership, including Justin Bieber, Hailey Baldwin, Nick Jonas, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and others. The church was founded in Australia and came to the U.S. in 2010.

Hillsong Church in New York City is led by Carl Lentz, who told GQ in 2015 he believes homosexuality is a sin and no openly gay person could have a leadership position in his church. During the interview, Letntz said if the male leader of his church choir married another male member, there would only be "limited involvement" for the choir leader in the church.

"This would create friction that wouldn't be fair to the people that we're serving," Lentz explained. "If you believe that homosexuality is God's will for your life, and I disagree, well, what if you're a leader and, you know, a young man comes up to you, and he has questions about his sexuality? What are you going to tell him? What I believe or what you believe?"

In a 2015 blog post, Hillsong pastor Brian Houston said the church "welcomes all people but does not affirm all lifestyles."

Pratt's new movie, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, is now in theaters. Page stars in Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, which will be released on Feb. 14.

Photo credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb

0comments
Start the Conversation

of