Cult News

It seems that Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has taken on Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard as a cause to crusade over, using both his title and office to add weight to the claims of both.

CultNews has reported before how the Sheriff seems to have become a shill for Scientology promoting its various programs and attending its fund-raising events.

This month Baca was featured within the magazine International Scientology News (Issue number 33) gushing about how wonderful the founder of Scientology was and his supposed precepts remain.

The following statement is seemingly attributed to Sheriff Baca complete with photo within the Scientology publication. A copy of the quote as it appears is posted a Web site administered by David Touretzsky, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and critic of Scientology.

“The story of L. Ron Hubbard can be found in the time to understand the information that he provides, the wisdom that it brings to dealing with life’s needs and therein the real story can be told. And the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people, who have been exposed to what his ideas are — it’s all about goodness, it’s all about improving yourself, it’s all about finding a way to empower other human beings. It’s reverence for life. Those are important things.”

Can Baca be so ignorant and poorly read that he doesn’t know about the actual teachings of L. Ron Hubbard and only understands what Scientology’s public relations department churns out?

Does he think that Tom Cruise going “crazy” is proof of “improving yourself” through Scientology?

Or is it that the sheriff has somehow benefited through his association with the controversial church many call a “cult”?

Perhaps Scientology’s rich patrons have contributed to his political campaign fund?

Maybe the sheriff should do a little more reading about Scientology before he agrees again to stand up for its programs and lend his name and the weight of his elected office to its schemes.

The “real story” behind Scientology can be easily understood by reading the seminal cover story run by Time Magazine back in 1991 titled “Scientology: The Cult of Greed.” Rather than being “about goodness” Time reported, “In reality the church is a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner.”

A more recent article published by Rolling Stone magazine titled “Inside Scientology” published this year offers examples of former Scientologists fearful about retribution from the church Baca says is “about goodness.”

“I’m terrified” one tells Rolling Stone, while another says, “The church is a big, scary deal.”

Does this sound like the result of an effort to “empower other human beings”?

Baca claims there is a “reverence for life” evident within the teachings of Hubbard through Scientology.

But how can this be seen through the way the church handled Lisa McPherson? A devoted Scientologist in distress who was taken to a Scientology facility in Florida for treatment and ended up DOA at a hospital 17 days later?

Lisa McPherson’s family didn’t think Scientology demonstrated a “reverence for life” so the sued the church for wrongful death. After years of legal wrangling the church paid the family off rather than take its chances before a jury.

What about the “story of L. Ron Hubbard”?

At best his biography appears to be a bit muddled. One judge declared that Hubbard was “virtually a pathological liar when it [came] to his history, background and achievements.” And according to one report the “Scientology’s founder’s family [was] far from what he preached.”

A recent article in Slate and another in Salon that describes Hubbard’s writings as a “crackpot rant” hardly portrays a man known for his “wisdom” as Baca describes him.

So what “information” does the sheriff rely upon before lending his name to promotional efforts?

Apparently not the information provided through the mainstream media such as the Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine or reputable wire services like Associated Press or Reuters.

Instead, it seems that Baca prefers to believe whatever his Scientology handlers tell him or provide as reference material.

Los Angeles County voters might well want to consider whose interests Sheriff Baca is serving before casting their ballots in the next election.

Is the sheriff becoming a shill for Scientology or is he consistently representing the best interests of his broader constituency?

There’s only two weeks left in the American Idol competition and it’s down to three finalists. One of the three is 22-year-old Katherine McPhee and she just might be a Scientologist.

“The Internet is full of Katharine-is-a-Scientologist stories and ‘Star’ Magazine even reported that McPhee completed the Scientology ‘Purification Rundown’ course in which one reaches a new level of spirituality by swilling cooking-oil, popping niacin and sweating your butt off in a sauna,” reports the New York Post. 

For those that don’t already know about the “Rundown” it is a “religious ritual” favored by Scientologists like Katie Holmes and Kelly Preston to supposedly get the “poisons” or “toxins” out of their fatty tissue, though medical experts have dismissed it as little more than quackery.

Post reporter Linda Stassi has labeled McPhee a “Pod Girl,” as in Invasions of the Body Snatchers and says “she has this whole Damien the Omen thing going,” only revealing her true self when the cameras are turned off.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence that Scientologist Priscilla Presley showed up for a segment with McPhee at Graceland, who then delivered a medley of Elvis songs.

Ironically, despite his ex-wife’s involvement with the controversial church, Elvis himself never took up Scientology.

According to a close associate “The King” once said, “F – – – those people! There’s no way I’ll ever get involved with that son-of-a-bitchin’ group. All they want is my money.”

Something of a sour note that McPhee is unlikely to sing.

If the girl with that “Damien thing” wins the competition and then comes out of the closet proclaiming her devotion to Scientology, expect this to be something of a coup for the Sci-fi religion regarding the youth market.

Maybe McPhee could team up with newly converted Katie Holmes and the two could work twenty-something market together as a traveling acting and singing Scientology show?

However, Stassi says McPhee is “bland” and phony, questioning “is she real or is she Memorex, or maybe just a Scientologist?”

Well, stay tuned because “Pod girl” could get “kicked to the curb” this week.

Note: CultNews has learned that Katherine McPhee recently denied reports that she is a Scientologist. In an interview May 12th on KROQ 106.7 McPhee stated, “I am not a Scientologist. I was actually dating somebody who was a Scientologist. I was madly in love and sure I was like I’ll dabble in Scientology and I was quickly out the door.” So it seems that “Pod girl” may have taken a Scientology course or two, sweated in the sauna, popped niacin and sucked down some cooking oil, but ditched Scientology in the end. And she did it it all for “love.” Sounds like another song coming on.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca’s office was picketed May 6th in response to his ties to Scientology.

First stop for the group of weekend protesters was the sheriff’s Monterey Park office.

The next stop for the Scientology critics was a protest in front of a Hollywood Boulevard Scientology building that houses the church’s notorious “Office of Special Affairs.”

Sheriff Baca has become a repeat booster of Scientology-linked programs such as Narconon.

In January of this year, the sheriff wrote the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning to support Narconon’s application for a new facility in Leona Valley. He also was spotted at an event sponsored by ABLE, the Scientology-linked umbrella organization over Narconon. 

The Sheriff’s consistent support of these organizations is puzzling considering all the bad press they have received and open criticism from other California officials.

During 2004 school district officials in Los Angeles ordered a review of Narconon warning teachers that its instruction “is not based on science.”

Maria Reza, the district’s assistant superintendent of student health and human services, sent a memo to all Los Angeles schools stating, “The information that is delivered in (Narconon’s) presentations is not based on science, and there have been serious questions raised about the accuracy of this information.”

Narconon ceased to be a regular program in San Francisco schools after critical articles were run within Bay area newspapers questioning the accuracy of its presentations to students.

“The facts that they were teaching the kids support a philosophical or religious belief, as opposed to science, so we had to say ‘no,’ ” School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman told the San Francisco Chronicle almost two years ago.

However, despite all this publicity regarding Narconon Sheriff Baca not only accepted an award from ABLE, but also continued to support Scientology-linked programs.

CultNews previously reported that Baca appointed Scientology’s apparent President for life Heber Jentzch to a slot on his “Executive Clergy Advisory Council.”   

Then the sheriff “spearheaded” the “6th Annual Multi-Faith Prayer Breakfast,” which included Jentzch along with Scientologist and sitcom star Jenna Elfman. The former “Dharma” gave a speech pitching yet a Scientology-linked program called “Criminon.”

Baca also dropped in at a special fundraiser for another Scientology-linked project called “Youth for Human Rights International” run by Scientologist Mary Shuttleworth according to a recent press release.

The Sheriff and his wife both sat down to an elegant “gourmet dinner for a select one hundred and twenty guests” at Scientologist and actress Anne Archer’s Brentwood mansion.

It’s nice to be the Los Angeles County Sheriff.

But now Baca faces a backlash. His office has been picketed by protesters that don’t think a public servant should pander so preferentially to one religious group, especially one as controversial as Scientology.

And that religion has become something of joke; between the antics of its “Top Gun” Tom Cruise and the cartoon show South Park’s face off with the church.

Ever since the advent of the Internet Scientology’s secret teachings aren’t so secret anymore. This includes the bizarre belief that space aliens came to earth from outer space 75 million years ago, sent here by an evil warlord named Xenu, according to church documents now readily accessible.

Scientologists like Tom Cruise believe that the spiritual residue of these alien beings continues to affect humanity today.

South Park had some fun with this theology in its episode “Trapped in the Closet,” not unlike the protesters last week, who had their own Xenu pose for pictures in front of “The L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibit.”

Hubbard is the founder of Scientology who not surprisingly was previously a Sci-fi writer before he became a religious prophet.

But Sheriff Baca doesn’t seem to be laughing. Instead, he apparently takes Scientology’s beliefs rather seriously.

Of course the church, which has its share of rich celebrities like Lisa Marie Presley and John Travolta, can well afford to take good care of its friends.

Has Baca made some sort of pact with the Sci-fi religion many consider a “cult”?

Some Scientologists think that the higher you go in the controversial church, the better you get. And there are currently eight levels to measure just how good your getting, along the pay-as-you-go path provided to the faithful regarding Scientology’s progressive revelation.

Tom Cruise, Jeanna Elfman and John Travolta have all managed to pay their way to “Operating Thetan Level Seven” or “OT-7.” No doubt the trio hopes to some day reach the lofty heights of OT-8.

But if Scott W. Snow is any example for these celebrities of what comes through such enlightenment, maybe they should reconsider their religious path. 

Snow reached the pinnacle of Scientology’s OT-8 back in 1989, but he ended up becoming a “slumlord” reports the St. Petersburg Times.

The Florida businessman is currently being investigated on 39 separate code violation complaints at his three St. Petersburg apartment buildings. And two dozen of his tenants have hired a lawyer to prepare a lawsuit against him.

But how could this happen to someone so enlightened?

A 1999 Scientology business directory (WISE) lists Snow as a member that supposedly ascribes to “higher standards than are generally accepted in the business world.”

Does “slumlord” somehow fit within that description?

One of Snow’s tenants picketed after being forced to evacuate his building by authorities due to code violations. The possibly homeless man’s sign read “We demand decent housing.” 

Wouldn’t “decent housing” fit within the “higher standards” expected from a WISE member?  

A spokesman for Scientology in Clearwater admitted that an OT-8 like Snow should “have a higher level of ethics.’’

However, somehow it just didn’t take with this Scientologist.

It’s official, Tom Cruise’s star power has been diminished and the likely reason is his Scientology-linked rants and accompanying bizarre behavior.

Despite zipping around on his jet to perform publicity stunts at various venues in an effort to attract attention and box office action, the middle-aged action hero of Mission Impossible III saw ticket sales come in at $10 million less than the last installment of his much touted Mission Impossible series.

“Hollywood tongues are wagging…asking if Tom Cruise’s image may be to blame” reported People Magazine.

And if the first weekend is any indication of a trend the 43-year-old star’s fans seem to be decidedly responding to Cruise’s media meltdown over the past many months by not showing up to support his latest film.

“There’s a lot to be said for how a star’s public persona can affect a movie’s box office,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

One Canadian newspaper the Ottawa Sun  asked what would once have been considered unthinkable–are “fans on a mission to snub Tom Cruise?”

Talks of boycotts and protests against the star have proliferated over the Internet in recent weeks.

One Internet forum even discussed flying planes with trailing banners to mock Cruise and Scientology as a protest at the Hollywood premiere of MI-3.

In an apparent effort to boost the sagging stardom of Scientology’s “Top Gun” it is rumored his fellow religionists are buying up blocks of tickets at one LA cinema.

But unlike Mel Gibson’s devoted religious fans, which made that star hundreds of millions supporting his cinematic vision of Jesus, it appears there are just not enough Scientologists to make a difference for Tom Cruise.

What does appear certain though is the purported “world’s greatest movie star” has stumbled and Hollywood studios may be far less likely to trust him to carry a big budget movie again.

Tom Cruise seems to have suffered this career setback largely due to his personal and religious hubris. And in Hollywood hubris may be OK, but not when it directly has an effect upon profits.

Scientology has come up with something called “Super Power” for its rich public patrons to spend their money on. “In the works for decades, the closely guarded spiritual training program will be revealed in Clearwater, Florida reports the St. Petersburg Times.

According to one of its first customers Matt Feshbach he now supposedly has “super powers.” Of course the multi-millionaire money management entrepreneur, who has been a big giver to Scientology, has nothing scientifically prove objective evidence to offer, but rather subjective anecdotal stories.

Diehard Scientologist Ron Pollack, who has tossed $5-million into the so-called “Super Power fund” reportedly got a sneak peek for his money. He saw some photo of a “hi tech thing.”

Apparently part of acquiring “super power” is spinning and floating around with the aid of various contraptions.

True believers like Fesbach and Pollack probably want to believe Scientology’s fantastic claims, because it makes them feel good. The church that Sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard founded in the 1950s is good at catering to its rich and famous clients, feeding their seeming sense of narcissistic self-entitlement.

Scinetology’s Hollywood celebrities such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Jeanna Elfman have reached the starry heights of Hubbardism, by ascending to his so-called “Operating Thetan (OT) Levels,” which continue from OT-1 through OT-8.

Cruise, Travolta and Elfman are reportedly at OT-7, with only one more level left to pay for.

So what’s a church to do that appears to be in the business of selling its religious revelations?

Here comes “Super Power.”

Something more to sell its faithful, well at least for those with the money to pay for it.

Reportedly it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to reach just OT-3 and find out about the link between space aliens and your negative reactive mind.

Some say Cruise and Travolta have given millions to Scientology for its courses, as gifts to the organization and programs linked to Scientology through the teachings of Hubbard like “Applied Scholastics” and Narconon.

Imagine if Tom Cruise is able to jump couches now, what will he do with “super powers.”

Ironically former members claim that when the church “checked back on the staffers who had been through Super Power. It turned out…many had left the church.”

This may mean that Katie Holmes’ parents best bet to break their daughter loose from the church many call a “cult,” is to get the girl “Super Power” ASAP. 

Super Power first customer Matt Feshbach’s niece has been linked to Holmes as her “best friend” and seeming Scientologist handler. Maybe she can take Katie to Clearwater and get her a dose of this “power,” which might enable the actress blast off to home and family in Toledo.

Apparently Air America Radio talk show host Janeanne Garofalo has gone gonzo for the Scientology-linked program “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project.”

On Friday April 28th Garofalo did her second show segment in the same month to promote the program based upon the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. This time the host of Majority Report allotted a 17-minute spot, for what came across as something like an infomercial.

CultNews previously reported about another Garofalo last April show promoting Tom Cruise’s pet project in New York, which included Scientologist and sitcom star Leah Remini.

This time Ms. Janeanne had no Scientology celebrity, but practically chanted the Web site address of the controversial project and its phone number.

The talk-show host was like some pre-recorded device, pitching questions to Jim Woodworth, so that the project’s head could hold forth with Hubbardisms.

And this isn’t the first time Woodworth has run a controversial health program.

HealthMed, cited within the seminal article “Scientology: The Cult of Greed” by Time Magazine was run by Woodworth and had a history of controversy, as reported within a series of articles published by the LA Times. Doctors in the “Sunshine State” accused HealthMed of making “false medical claims” and “taking advantage of the fears of workers and the public about toxic chemicals and their potential health effects, including cancer.”

Now it appears Woodworth may be attempting to do the same thing in New York, with increasing help coming from Janeanne Garofalo through Air America.

Doesn’t anyone at this network read newspapers or bother to use the Internet?

It has been repeatedly reported that Woodworth and his project were officially dumped by FDNY. Its chief medical officer Dr. Kerry Kelly told the New York Times that there is no “objective evidence” to support Woodworth’s bizarre claims that his subjects somehow sweat out toxins.

Never mind.

Garofalo/Woodworth, working like partners introduced “fireman/lawyer” Pete Gleason, who offered his personal testimonial.

But that’s subjective “evidence.”

Eventually Gleason admitted that the detoxification project has no official recognition or status with NYFD.

Woodworth explained that the process he promotes often called the “purification rundown,” which is something of a “religious ritual” amongst Scientologists, is a regimen of sauna stints combined with ingested doses of niacin and what housewives call “cooking oil.”

He made the startling claim that this remedy took L. Ron Hubbard “25 years” to develop.

In Ireland Professor Michael Ryan, head of the pharmacology department at a university, said the purification rundown is “not supported by scientific facts” and “not medically safe” reported the Irish Times.

Hubbard was no doctor, professor or qualified scientist. He was a Sci-fi writer, turned “prophet,” who seemed to prefer religious revelation rather than pulp paperbacks to make money.

Woodworth told Garofalo that he has processed “620” rescue workers so far and that it just “breaks [his] heart” that he couldn’t do more.

While Woodworth says the process is “free” to rescue workers the 21-day ritual reportedly costs the general public $5,200.00.

Could the heroes of 9-11 be pawns in a promotional effort to provide paying customers for Woodworth, or is that just a role reserved for Janeanne Garafolo lately?

Currently the two clinics associated with the “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project” are consuming $2 million dollars annually. But Woodworth seems anxious to get his hands on federal funds and there were repeated references during the segment about a $125 million fund allotted by the government regarding 9-11.

Garofalo parroted Woodworth wondering aloud why the government won’t give him some of that money?

“Victims of outright bigotry” stated Woodworth, because his work is associated with Scientology.

The “Majority Report” host closed the segment promising Woodworth that she would be “talking to [him] again in the future.”

Has Garofalo’s gonzo spirit got something to do with a project she is cooking up with Hollywood Scientologists? Or will the talk-show host just get a guest spot on an episode of Remini’s “King of Queens”?

“Majority Report” fans don’t appear too happy and response to Woodworth wasn’t good, based upon the sentiments expressed at its blog.

“I lost all respect for this show tonight. Why are they pumping up Scientology and junk science?”

“I wasn’t really listening to the Scientology guy. It sounded like he kept saying he needed more funding. Is he trying to scam some faith-based initiative money?”

“Is there a specific program in the Majority Report studio to keep the television tuned to the Sci-Fi Channel?”

But Garofalo still has loyal listeners.

Note: CultNews has been told by a viewer of Scientologist sitcom star Leah Remini’s “King of Queens” show that Janeanne Garofalo has already done a “guest spot.” Does this mean the “Majority Report” spots for the Scientology-linked program on Air America was simply pay back time to Remini?

It seems that Scientology and Tom Cruise have finished the first phase of Katie Holmes’ education/evolution. Apparently the initial indoctrination process is done and her recently reported planned name change may signal that the Scientology version, or “new and improved Kate,” is ready to emerge.

Holmes says that “Kate” sounds more “mature.”

Of course like virtually everything in her new life there was input from Tom Cruise who has frequently referred to his wife to be number three as “Kate.”

Holmes confirmed that she discussed the issue of her new name with Scientology’s “Top Gun” and claimed that “Katie sounded too young for her” reported Virgin.net. 

Since becoming involved with Cruise, Holmes appears to have gone through many changes.

The former “Dawson’s Creek” star went from Roman Catholic to Scientologist and it has been reported that she has spent eight hours a day inside Scientology’s Los Angeles Celebrity Center. A purported Scientology staffer Jessica Feshbach Rodriguez is her new “best friend” and seemingly has shadowed the 27-year-old actress.

Persistent leaks to the media from family and old friends portray Holmes as increasingly isolated and out of touch since being suddenly swept up by Cruise.

Cocooned within the 43-year-old actor’s Beverly Hills compound and virtually surrounded by Scientologists around the clock, “Kate” is now content to be a “stay at home mom.”

Has Holmes been “brainwashed”?

The actress reportedly had been described as both “zombie-like” and a “Stepford Wife.”

Researchers have observed that many so-called “cult members”  undergo rapid personality change through the indoctrination process within their respective groups. Ultimately, a reformed “cult personality” then emerges.

Has Katie Holmes been replaced by a new improved Scientology version to be called “Kate”?

Maybe her name change will provide an easy way for the star to be identified BC (before Cruise) as “Katie” or AC (after Cruise) as “Kate.”

Then again, it could be that Tom Cruise just prefers short easy to say names?

He once called his second wife Nicole Kidman “Nic.”

However, the Oscar-winning actress dramatically rejected becoming one of the completed “Stepford Wives,” and dumped Scientology in real life.

In an ironic twist the name of Tom Cruise’s newborn child “Suri” actually means, “get out of here” in Hebrew and that’s what some of the star’s critics seem to think Katie Holmes should do.

CultNews got this feedback from one reader.

“Tom Cruise is nuts. Katie Holmes next big mistake would be to marry this control freak. To listen to this fool talk you would think he was the first person to be in love and have a baby. This girl needs to take her baby and run for the hills. I certainly hope she gets her head on straight before it is to late.”

According to Israeli experts “Suri” means quite literally “get out of here” reports the London’s Daily Telegram.

“I really don’t know what they were thinking when they chose this name. It’s a term that denotes expulsion, like ‘Get out of here’,” says Gideon Goldenberg, a linguistics professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Why not call the baby “Scram Cruise?” Yaron London of Israel’s Channel 10 television quipped.

So does this mean there is something prophetic about baby Cruise’s name?

The growing consensus appears to be that Katie Holmes may be intellectually incapacitated, possibly through Scientology programming.

Sara Stewart of the New York Post commented today that Tom Cruise has turned “a promising young actress into a glassy-eyed Stepford Wife.”

A Muslim opined in Britain’s Sunday Herald that if Cruise had persuaded Holmes to dump Catholicism for Islam instead of Scientology the press would probably be harder on the star and likely label such a conversion “as nothing short of oppressive and brainwashing.”

Given the history of this situation maybe the name of baby Cruise was a cryptic choice by Katie, or a “Freudian slip.”

Perhaps it’s time for Holmes to grab Baby Suri and “scram.”

It appears that Scientology and/or Scientologists may be actively involved in a spamming campaign to boost Tom Cruise’s sagging popularity.

The New York Post reports that “Cruise’s cronies seem to have put a lot of effort into skewing a Parade magazine poll in his favor.”

That Internet vote was taken to measure public opinion, whether Tom Cruise or the press, is responsible for the movie star’s public relations meltdown. 

84% of the respondents supposedly said they blamed the press, but Parade wasn’t buying it.

Instead staffers at the magazine thought there was something “fishy” about the results.

Parade’s publicist Alexis Collado told the Post, “We…found out more than 14,000 (of the 18,000-plus votes) that came in were cast from only 10 computers! One computer was responsible for nearly 8,400 votes alone, all blaming the media for Tom’s troubles. We also discovered that at least two other machines were the sources of inordinate numbers of votes. It seems these folks (whoever they may be) resorted to extraordinary measures to try to portray Tom in a positive light for the Parade.com survey. There is even a chance they wrote a special ‘bot’ program for the sole purpose of skewing the results, rather than casting the votes by hand on a computer.”

“Whoever they may be”? 

Since almost all of Cruise’s inner circle of “cronies” are Scientologists it seems almost certain that the “they” Collado refers to, are probably members of the controversial church, often called a “cult.”

Scientologists already have a reputation for spamming on the Internet. And the church’s netizens often appear to use “bot” programs. So what happened to Parade appears to fit a familiar pattern.

Historically Scientology has been accused repeatedly of supporting “spam teams.”

It seems that when legal threats failed to intimidate its Internet critics at discussion groups the next step was “Scientology spamming,” as reported by the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

Scientologists also have regularly been accused of using “bot” technology to thwart their critics.

So if it sounds like Scientologists, looks like Scientologists and smells (figuratively speaking) like Scientologists, then it just might be Scientologists that helped out their fellow believer Tom Cruise. 

After all, the actor is Scientology’s “Top Gun,” and the organization must be concerned about one of its most important assets. Cruise often acts like a never ending “Eveready Energizer Bunny” promoting the controversial church at almost any opportunity, whether its curing drug addicts or dyslexia Cruise’s answer is almost always Scientology.

But it seems Tom Cruise might a falling star. 

In one poll the 43-year-old actor was “voted the person people would least like to go camping overnight with” below Saddam Hussein, reported China Daily. 

He also beat Paris Hilton and Bobby Brown for the top spot in a Los Angeles Times poll as the “Tackiest Star” of 2005 reported Hollywood.com. And Cruise picked up the title “most irritating actor in movies” in a vote taken by Britain’s Empire Magazine.

Not long ago the actor also won two not so coveted Razzies. A silver gong for “the most tiresome tabloid target” and he got the gold for “unashamed romancing” reported the BBC News. 

With such increasing negatives Scientology may be sweating a bit.

As anyone in advertising knows likeability makes a good spokesperson. That is, people don’t buy products from someone they don’t like.

Just ask any sports star that lost an endorsement deal after some personal or professional scandal.

So if people don’t like Tom Cruise how can he successfully sell Scientology?

Enter the spammers and bots to make him look like a victim by deliberately skewing a poll.

Meanwhile Cruise’s spokesman told the Post that he knows “nothing” about the spammers and therefore has “nothing” to say on the subject.

Well, if Scientology and/or its devoted followers did the spamming and bot work, that would provide a comfortable layer of separation, affording both the star and his spokesman “plausible denial.” 

Cruise himself may not be sweating that much because as the BBC observed, “Mission Impossible I and II took nearly $1billion between them. If the third in the series, due for release this summer, is anything like as successful then, as far as the powers that be in Hollywood are concerned, their brightest star can continue to do and say what he pleases.”

But will moviegoers continue to buy the Cruise brand?

If recent polls, ridiculing awards or the seemingly desperate attempt of spammers is any indication, maybe not.