After Olympic events marked by many French victories, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are due to conclude this Sunday, August 11, at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Scheduled to start at 9 p.m., the closing ceremony should highlight French and American stars in order to symbolize the passing of the baton between Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028.
Among the celebrities expected: American actor Tom Cruise. According to the American media TMZthe actor known for his roles in “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun” could perform a stunt on the roof of the Stade de France. A participation confirmed half-heartedly by the resigning Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who defended Saturday his presence on Franceinfo. And this, despite his claimed affiliation with Scientology, which has been criticized several times for sectarian excesses.
A very media-friendly Scientologist
Founded in 1952 by L. Ron Hubbard, this organization presents itself as a religion, although it is considered a sect in France by several parliamentary reports and is monitored by the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance against Sectarian Drifts (Miviludes). In early August, the Miviludes recalled thus the “risks of mental destabilization, exorbitant financial demands, and rupture with the original environment, particularly family” of Scientology, of which several followers or structures have been convicted in France, particularly for fraud.
Therefore, Tom Cruise’s presence at the 2024 Olympics raises questions, because the American actor is one of the most important media figures of Scientology in the world. “Cruise has been a Scientologist for almost as long as he became famous: his introduction to the church was reportedly negotiated around 1986 (the same year Top Gun he went out)”, says the American magazine Rolling Stone. Since the early 2000s, the actor has taken advantage of his celebrity to regularly promote Scientology, particularly around the release of his films. In 2016, on the London red carpet for the film “Jack Reacher”, Tom Cruise described the sectarian drift as a “beautiful religion” that had “helped him incredibly in [sa] life”, reported the daily life The Guardian.
Asked about the presence of a media follower of Scientology at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra kicked it into touch, preferring to emphasize the “extraordinarily popular personality”. “Let’s not always look for controversy where it doesn’t exist,” believes the resigning Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games.
A sectarian movement present on the fringes of the Olympic Games
However, the presence of Scientology on the sidelines of the Olympic Games is a matter of concern. Having recently set up in April in its premises in Saint-Denis, a stone’s throw from the Stade de France, the French branch of the organization was offering coffee and cold drinks to passers-by on their way to the stadium at the beginning of August, while inviting them to visit its headquarters.
Furthermore, the sectarian movement also tried to take advantage of the visibility of the 2024 Olympics through a vast awareness-raising operation. Launched shortly before the start of the games via the association “No to drugs, yes to life”, the latter aimed to distribute one million small booklets warning against the dangers of drugs by Sunday. A message that seems very consensual, especially since nowhere in the thirty pages of the booklet is Scientology mentioned.
“If you don’t know who they are, you get caught up in these beautiful values. They say they are there to help drug addicts, but in reality it allows for indoctrination,” Catherine Katz, president of Unadfi, an association defending victims of sects, told AFP. Therefore, the former magistrate considers Tom Cruise’s participation in the closing ceremony problematic: “the simple fact that we mention his presence is an insult to the victims. It really sends a bad message.”