Leah Remini asks the TikTok children to please stop running into the Scientology building

Calling the online trend—in which young people film themselves running into the organization's headquarters—"a distraction," Remini asked them to knock it off.

Leah Remini asks the TikTok children to please stop running into the Scientology building

Leah Remini is probably Scientology’s most vocal celebrity critic, having spoken about the Church—which she was raised in, before leaving it in 2013—in interviews, on social media, and most notably through her A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath. And now, she has a message for the TikTok children: Please, stop running into Scientology buildings and filming yourself while you do it.

For the blissfully unfamiliar, this latest trend kicked off last month, when a TikTok creator named Swhileyy—best known previously for videos where he used smart glasses to film interviews with Los Angeles’ houseless population—posted a video titled “Farthest Scientology run part 2.” As the name suggests, the video showed Swhileyy and another content creator, named isdurpyy, because there’s no part of online culture that isn’t just slathered in dignity, running through the organization’s Los Angeles headquarters, yelling, dodging people, and eventually being escorted out by staff. The video went viral, and has inspired at least a few imitator groups, both in California and in the organization’s “spiritual home” in Clearwater, Florida. (Some of which have reportedly couched the stunts as activism against the Church, although Swhileyy told THR this month that, “I didn’t do this whatsoever to come out against them or anything, even though that’s kind of what it looks like. Not once did I say it’s a cult or get out or anything like how the other people do it.”)

The trend has now caught the attention of enough people that Remini (per TheWrap) posted a social media message about it on Thursday, calmly asking the internet’s children to kindly cut this shit out. While highlighting her appreciation for young content creators who publicize the Church’s alleged misconduct, Remini said,

What I’m seeing now—running into Scientology buildings, harassing staff, provoking reactions for TikTok is not really exposure. It feels like it’s about clicks, and it’s turning something serious into content. In doing so, it completely loses the point, because this trend creates chaos. It creates spectacle. Worst of all, it hands Scientology exactly what they want: the ability to position themselves as the victim.

Noting that she also wants people to end the trend for their own safety (“They’re gonna go after you, they’re going to involve law enforcement”), Remini emphasized that she believes that any such stunts simply play into the organization’s hands. “What may feel like exposing something is really, in reality, distracting from the real dangers of Scientology. That’s what they want.” Remini ended her message by calling on content creators to find ways to creatively highlight their issues with Scientology. “Because this isn’t that.”

 

 
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