Saturday Night Live went for the jugular with its takedown of Scientology.
In a sketch from this weekend’s Michael Keaton-hosted episode, the NBC series aired a fake advertisement for a religion called the Church of Neurotology, which was an obvious stand-in for founder L. Ron Hubbard‘s controversial faith. It appears that SNL opted to change the religion’s name slightly for legal reasons.
One line from the jingle was, “A gorgeous religion, old and true, started in 1982.”
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The ad was supposedly filmed in 1990, and captions on the screen pointed out various members who have since gone missing for speaking out against the church.
“Not allowed to see family,” read one such caption. Another person was identified with the tag, “Blackmails gay actors.”
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This sketch follows the March 30 HBO premiere of the Scientology documentary Going Clear. In director Alex Gibney‘s film, former members claim to have been tortured and allege that they have been kept from seeing their families after leaving the religion.
The skit can be seen below.
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Email: Ryan.Gajewski@THR.com
Twitter: @_RyanGajewski
