Linkin Park are back together, but their reunion has already been marred by controversy. The band’s new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong was part of a group of Scientologists who showed up at the courthouse to support That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson during his 2020 rape trial, where he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. The choice to have Armstrong fill in for the late Chester Bennington received quite a bit of backlash, notably from Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta/At The Drive-In. His wife Chrissie Carnell-Bixler was one of the four women who pursued rape charges against Masterson, and now, she has spoken out against Armstrong as well.
  • @[email protected]English
    10•2 months ago

    Le French resisted a bit of colonialism (from wiki/Scientology_status_by_country#France):

    Since 1995, Scientology has been classified as a secte (cult) by boards of inquiry commissioned by the National Assembly of France. It was first designated a sect in a 1995 report, and then in a 1999 report it was classified as an “absolute” sect and recommended its dissolution.

    In 2000, after ‘appeals for religious tolerance’ from USA President Clinton and his congress, president of France Jacques Chirac told Clinton to stay out of France’s business, noting “shocking White House support for Scientologists”. Alain Vivien, chairman of the Ministerial Mission to Combat the Influence of Cults, claimed that sects—primarily headed and funded by Scientology—had been infiltrating the United Nations and other European human rights organizations. In 2001, France passed the About–Picard law, intended to strengthen their ability to prevent and repress sects that undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms, and those which engage in mental manipulation. The law would allow courts “to order the immediate dissolution of any movement regarded as a cult whose members are found guilty of such existing offences as fraud, abuse of confidence, the illegal practice of medicine, wrongful advertising and sexual abuse.”

    A 2009 case resulted in a fraud conviction against two Church of Scientology organizations and five individuals, and recommended dissolution, and a 2012 appeal upheld the convictions including 600,000EUR in fines. Though the prosecution had requested the dissolution of the Scientology Celebrity Centre and its bookstore, a dissolution penalty wasn’t possible due to a brief retraction of the dissolution law prior to the 2009 verdict and the prohibition against enforcing it retroactively.