Leah Remini slammed the Church of Scientology in a lengthy statement shared shortly after Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for two counts of forcible rape.
“Sitting in court today with the women who survived Danny Masterson’s predation was a surreal experience,” Remini, 53, wrote via X (formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday, September 7. “Over the past seven decades, former Scientologists have sadly become used to Scientology using its financial resources, religious protection and relationships to snatch justice away from them.”
She went on to claim that the church “managed to cover up Danny’s crimes with the help of its intelligence agency” as well as church officials and “its network of media-hungry unethical attorneys, private investigators, agents and civilian Scientologists who engaged in a conspiracy to cover up crimes of sexual violence.”
Remini, who was present in the courtroom during Masterson’s sentencing on Thursday, described his conviction and sentence as “in indictments against Scientology, its operatives and its criminal leader, David Miscavige.”
“I am relieved that this dangerous rapist will be off the streets and unable to violently assault and rape women with the help of Scientology, a multi-billion-dollar criminal organization with tax-exempt status,” Remini continued before praising the women who testified against Masterson, 47.
“These women not only faced the living hell of being raped, having their rapes covered up by the very organization that promised to protect them, but they have also faced ruthless and criminal harassment by Scientology and its agents since they came forward to law enforcement,” Remini wrote. “The women who survived Danny’s predation fought tirelessly for justice. Their tenacity, strength and courage have given hope to all victims of Scientology that justice is possible. For that, we will forever be grateful.”
Masterson was convicted of two counts of forcible rape in May after he was charged with assaulting several women in the early 2000s. Jurors found him guilty of raping two women in 2003, but they could not reach a verdict for a November 2001 allegation involving an ex-girlfriend.
Masterson’s retrial began in April after a judge declared the first iteration a mistrial in November 2022. When the second trial started, Remini — a former Scientologist — was in attendance.
“The women who Danny raped deserve justice for what they’ve been put through, not only by Danny but by Scientology which has tried to destroy them for reporting their rapes,” she tweeted at the time.
Since leaving Scientology in 2013, Remini has been an outspoken critic of the church, writing about her experience in her 2016 memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. She also coproduced and hosted the A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which ran from 2016 to 2019 and won two Emmys.
When asked by Us Weekly for comment on Thursday, the Church of Scientology gave the same statement they provided after Masterson’s conviction.
“The prosecution’s introduction of religion into this trial was an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment and affects the due process rights of every American,” the church said. “There is not a scintilla of evidence supporting the scandalous allegations that the Church harassed the accusers. Every single instance of supposed harassment by the Church is FALSE, and has been debunked.”
