Tom Cruise’s MI8 London Premiere Derailed by Scientology Protest

Tom Cruise’s profession renaissance hit an surprising snag on the London premiere of Mission: Unimaginable – The Ultimate Reckoning. Because the 62‑12 months‑outdated Hollywood heavyweight made his grand entrance — pulling a stunt akin to his Olympics announcement final summer season, scaling the nostril of dual classic planes as a part of the movie’s spectacle — a small band of former Scientology members staged a peaceable protest simply toes from the crimson carpet.

Their chief, 29‑12 months‑outdated Alex Barnes — who’s publicly listed on Scientology’s web sites as an enemy of the group, a part of the group’s “truthful sport” harassment tactic —  livestreamed the demonstration, which lasted roughly ten minutes earlier than plainclothes officers swooped in, cuffing protesters underneath cease‑and‑search legal guidelines and looking out their luggage — by which era Cruise and his fellow A‑listers had been already contained in the Odeon Leicester Sq..

Barnes later decried the incident as “a very pointless and extreme use of police pressure which quickly restricted our rights to peaceable protest,” per The Solar, noting that he’d been neither approached nor requested why he and his group had gathered. “It was completely not our intention to trigger any form of disruption. We simply needed to be heard,” he instructed reporters, including that cuffs had left bruises on his wrists. In line with the Metropolitan Police, officers responded to reviews of suspicious conduct earlier than figuring out the demonstration was peaceable; nobody was formally arrested.

This newest disruption underscores the lengthy‑standing shadow Scientology casts over Cruise’s each transfer. Because the group was based within the Fifties by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, it has weathered allegations of monetary exploitation, emotional abuse, and aggressive techniques to stifle dissent, and that’s placing it conservatively.

Cruise, arguably the world’s most well-known Scientologist, has been its public poster youngster for many years, at the same time as whispers mount that he’s quietly distanced himself from the church. He hasn’t publicly talked about his membership in over a 12 months, although insiders insist he’s not totally out.

For Cruise, these protests come amid a extremely publicized second act in his private life: his alleged romance with Ana de Armas. The pair have jet‑set throughout Europe collectively, from helicopter drop‑ins to low‑key Valentine’s outings. But beneath the obvious bliss lies a thorny query of religion. De Armas, a religious Catholic, hails from a decent‑knit spiritual household in Cuba, and associates say she’s weighed whether or not Scientology may derail her personal future. “Ana was raised Catholic and her household wouldn’t settle for Tom due to his beliefs,” a supply beforehand defined, although one other insider insisted her coronary heart may be open: “His Scientologist beliefs should not a deal breaker for Ana.”

Whether or not Cruise and de Armas can navigate this religious divide stays to be seen. However on premiere evening in Leicester Sq., it was clear that no quantity of Hollywood pageantry can totally distract from the controversies that cling to one in every of its brightest stars.

Earlier than you go, click on right here to see celebrities who’ve left the Church of Scientology.