WEBSITES DEFY SCIENTOLOGY ATTEMPTS TO HALT BROADCAST OF TOM CRUISE VIDEO
January 17th 2008 05:33
This week, just as an unauthorised new biography of Tom Cruise debuted in America, so did a video of the actor proclaiming the virtues of the Church of Scientology, according to Online Minute.
It said the nine-minute clip shows Cruise speaking four years ago at a Scientology ceremony where he received an award, according to The New York Daily News. "When you're a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it... you're the only one who can really help," he says at one point in the clip.
After initially surfacing on Gawker's Defamer.com, YouTube and other sites, the video was briefly removed, but then reappeared. Yesterday, Gawker publisher Nick Denton posted the clip again, along with the statement that he would not be taking it down. "Gawker is now hosting a copy of the video; it's newsworthy; and we will not be removing it," Denton wrote.
Online Minute said, “It won't be surprising if the Church of Scientology threatens litigation over the clip, which is fast cementing Cruise's reputation as a crackpot.
“The group, which copyrights and sells its religious documents, has been quick to sue when people have posted portions of its tracts. In one case, it unsuccessfully sought an injunction prohibiting The Washington Post from writing about Scientology materials obtained from court records.
“But in the YouTube era, the Scientologists can't do much to permanently keep that video off the Web. Yes, the group can send takedown notices, or file lawsuits, but the clip now has a life of its own online. Even if YouTube were to use some sort of digital fingerprinting technology to keep users from re-posting the clip, it now exists on enough other sites that it will haunt Cruise for some time to come.”
Pan Macmillan Australia has been scared away from publishing a salacious biography of the movie star by British author Andrew Morton.
Retailer Dymocks has also decided not to stock the book because of fears of possible defamation action.
By contrast, US publishers St Martin's Press, which is a sister company of Pan Macmillan, was gearing up for a massive launch of Tom Cruise - An Unauthorised Biography to a ravenous American audience.
The Australian reported, “According to freedom-of-information advocate Irene Moss, the different moves reflect the more plaintiff-friendly defamation laws in Australia, where even the suggestion of possible lawsuits is enough to scare off publishers and booksellers.”
In the book Morton claims Cruise's former wife Nicole Kidman, in the final "audit" session she had with the church, in which members speak to a minister who watches a version of a lie detector, discussed her sexual relations with Cruise and the session was taped.
Morton alleges that Scientologists threatened to blackmail Kidman if she spoke out against the church after her failed marriage to Cruise.
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Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Gawker have also published the threatening letters from CoS with their response.
They are refusing to give in.