Rupert Murdoch has attacked Scientology in the wake of Tom Cruise and Katie's divorce, describing it as an "evil and weird cult" involved with "big, big money". The News Corp boss wrote a series of tweets about the church of Scientology which he claimed resulted in him being fiercely attacked by members of the sect.
His comments came after it was claimed Katie Holmes ended her marriage over fears that her daughter Suri would be dragged into the religious group.
"Scientology back in news," Murdoch wrote.
"Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hierarchy."
Murdoch's attack was unusual, especially as News Corp owns 20th Century Fox and a number of TV networks which have worked with Cruise.
The 81-year-old continued to attack the "cult" for what he believed to be their "creepy, even evil" behaviour, an attack which comedian Mitch Benn humorously described as "alien vs predator."
The Church of Scientology was founded by science fiction author L Ron Hubbard in the 1950's. The church claims that humans are alien spiritual beings trapped in "meat" bodies. It offers followers of its religion a form of spiritual rehabilitation it calls "auditing."
Donations are often exchanged in return for this "auditing."
Murdoch claimed that his tweets had resulted in abuse from members of the sect, writing: "Since Scientology tweet hundreds of attacks. Expect they will increase and get worse and maybe threatening. Still stick to my story."
However from a quick scan of twitter it seems that attacks levelled at Murdoch focussed on the unpopularity of both parties, with comments ranging from abusive to amusing.
...Well, this could get interesting really really fast. YAY FOR THE SHOUT-OUT FOR MY BB MITCH BENN. <3333 For the rest, I have only this response:
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