Seth Rogen has recounted an uncomfortable encounter with Tom Cruise. According to the Fabelmans actor, Cruise pitched Scientology to him and Judd Apatow in 2006, according to a newly resurfaced 2021 SiriusXM interview with Howard Stern. Cruise compared how the media portrayed anti-Semitic religious leader Louis Farrakhan to Scientology’s negative press coverage, according to Rogen. “A few hours into the meeting, the Scientology stuff comes up,” Rogen remembered. “He said, ‘I think the pharmaceutical industry is making me look bad. You should see what they do to my friend Louis Farrakhan.’”
Rogen continued, “I’ll never forget the wording he used: ‘It’s like with Scientology. If you let me just tell you what it was really about, just give me like 20 minutes to, like, really just tell you what it was about. You would say no f— way. No f— way.’ I remember being like, the wording was like, is that a good thing to be saying?”
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The Pam & Tommy star said he and Apatow looked at each other during the “very loaded moment” and hoped they could avoid repercussions from rejecting Scientology. “I don’t know if I am — I’m generally a weak-willed, weak-minded person — I would assume on the grand scale of people. If they got him, what chance do I have?” Rogen said. “Thank God Judd was like, ‘I think we’re good, let’s just talk about movies and stuff.’ Woof. Dodged that bullet.” Social media have been buzzing about the SiriusXM clip after host Jerrod Carmichael joked Cruise should trade in the three Golden Globes he won to see Shelly Miscavige, wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige who hadn’t been seen in public for 15 years, return safely.
After protesting the lack of diversity in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 2021, Cruise returned his three Golden Globes. In 2023, Globes host Carmichael told the audience, “Backstage, I found these three Golden Globes awards that Tom Cruise returned. Look, I’m just the host briefly, or whatever, but I have a pitch: Maybe we take these three things and exchange them for the safe return of Shelly Miscavige.” Cruise’s best man at his wedding to Katie Holmes was David Miscavige. Leah Remini, a former Scientology member, and current activist filed a missing persons report for Shelly Miscavige in 2013 following her disappearance. After the Globes, Remini tweeted, “Thank you Jerrod Carmichael! Where is Shelly??”
