Leah Remini wants TikTokers to stop storming into Scientology buildings.
“Whether these people are doing it for social media clout or to genuinely expose the abuses of Scientology, what they are doing is unhelpful, and by engaging in these actions, they are unwittingly helping Scientology,” Remini said in a fiery social media post Thursday.
Remini shared a video denouncing the recent TikTok trend that sees people record themselves running into Scientology buildings to see how far they can make it. Videos have popped up from several young, masked TikTok creators that demonstrate them charging through the doors and dodging security as they attempt to make it deep into the spaces without getting physically caught and removed.
Remini, a former Scientologist and outspoken advocate against the church, encouraged content creators to stop this trend, both for their own safety and out of a desire to see concerns about the chruch be taken seriously.
“What I’m seeing now — running into Scientology buildings, harassing staff, provoking reactions for TikTok is not really exposure. It feels like it’s about clicks, and it’s turning something serious into content,” she said. “In doing so, it completely loses the point, because this trend creates chaos. It creates spectacle.”
“Worst of all, it hands Scientology exactly what they want: the ability to position themselves as the victim.”
You can watch Remini’s full video below:
Remini, an actor known for her roles on sitcoms such as “The King of Queens” and “Kevin Can Wait,” has been vocal about her own experiences with the Church of Scientology, from being inducted as a child to later leaving and speaking out against it.
She and Mike Rinder used these experiences as the basis for the documentary series “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” on A&E from 2016 to 2019. Remini also wrote a memoir, “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology,” about her experiences in 2015.
“There was a time that I truly appreciated what I was seeing on platforms like TikTok: people who were never in Scientology talking about it in a way that could reach others, especially younger people, and help prevent them from being involved,” she said in the social media video Thursday. “That kind of awareness was very important, and it had purpose. But this is not that.”
