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Is A&E shelving a highly-publicized episode of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath about Danny Masterson? According to a new report from The Daily Beast’s Amy Zimmerman, the Church of Scientology has been campaigning against the episode and pushing the network to remove it from the schedule altogether. The Scientology campaign seems to have worked: the Scientology and the Aftermath episode about Masterson was reportedly scheduled to air on February 18, but A&E has now reversed course, telling The Daily Beast that the actual date was “never announced.”
In 2017, multiple sexual assault allegations were levied against Masterson, then the star of Netflix sitcom The Ranch. Months later, after the LAPD delayed the investigation despite reportedly having “overwhelming evidence” against Masterson, Remini accused the police of covering up the case to please Scientology members, who have close ties with LAPD leaders. Remini later promised to explore the Masterson allegations in Scientology and the Aftermath, and the show taped interviews with multiple women who claim to have been assaulted by the actor. The Daily Beast reports that the resulting episode was delayed last year in order to not “jeopardize” the ongoing criminal investigation against Masterson; after enough time had passed for the police to sufficiently investigate, the network scheduled it to air Monday, February 18.
But now, A&E has pulled the episode from next week’s schedule. The network told The Daily Beast, “The episode was actually never on the schedule for February 18. That was incorrect info that was circulating but we never announced that date. We don’t have an air date for the episode yet but I will definitely let you know as soon as we do.”
According to one of Masterson’s accusers who was interviewed for the episode, the Church of Scientology is behind A&E’s sudden reversal. “The week that the decision was made by the A&E network to move forward with the airing of the episode we did for Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, letters started circulating from various sources directed at A&E and Disney calling for the show to be taken off the air, declaring the show and its contributors to be bigots and many other hurtful names,” she told The Daily Beast. “Scientology pushed and circulated these letters. The very organization that silenced us victims when we reported being violently raped, is still actively willing to use any means — there is seemingly no end to what they are willing to do just to insure our voices are taken from us.”
The Daily Beast seemingly backs up this claim. Zimmerman reports that Scientology website STAND (Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination) has posted a number of letters protesting the episode in recent months — including potentially fraudulent ones. “The campaign to silence us has sadly worked,” the accuser said. “Our voices will again NOT be heard.”
