WEBVTT

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In writing a 365-page book targeting
the Church of Scientology,

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Lawrence Wright sought out a tiny
group of disgruntled ex-members

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led by this man:

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expelled from the Church for
financial misconduct, deception,

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ineptitude and violence.

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Nearly all of Wright's sources

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were dismissed from the Church
for similar offenses,

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including: embezzlement, financial
wrongdoing, sexual misconduct,

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physical abuse and severe violations
of Church doctrine.

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Yet these are the individuals
Lawrence Wright uses to impugn the

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character of the Church
and its leader,

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a man responsible
for a worldwide religion

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and its unprecedented expansion…

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…and under whose stewardship,

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the Church’s social betterment
programs have become

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the largest non-governmental
anti-drug and

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human rights campaigns on Earth.

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But in writing his "so called"
expose on Scientology,

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Lawrence Wright’s sources were
far from credible and Wright knew it.

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Their allegations so far-fetched that
a federal judge and an appeals court

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dismissed them as baseless.

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Lawrence Wright ignored that.

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And when the Church provided
thousands of pages of evidence

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documenting the falsehood
of those claims -–

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Lawrence Wright continued to present
the allegations as fact.

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When asked in a journalist forum,

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“Do you believe that journalism
can lead to truth?”,

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Wright had this to say:

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"Truth is one of those
subjective terms

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that are pointless
to get too tied up about."

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Wright's book was
released in January 2013

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but failed to generate reader interest.

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Still, it found itself immediately
steeped in controversy

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about the veracity of its claims.

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So much so that the book’s publisher
would not release it in Britain,

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Ireland, Canada or Australia because
of their libel laws.

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The chances of losing a lawsuit
were simply too great.

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Now, documentary filmmaker Alex
Gibney has taken Lawrence Wright’s

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book at its word
without question or examination:

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“I utterly trusted Larry. I wasn’t
looking for holes in his story.”

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Over the two years Gibney quietly
worked on his documentary,

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he never once contacted the Church,
visited a Church

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or spoke to any of its members.

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His documentary was in the can before
he even mentioned it to them.

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And to this day, Gibney refuses to
reveal his allegations to the Church.

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Let’s take a closer look at Wright
and Gibney's sources:

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Meet Jason Beghe: tough guy on TV...
tough guy in real life.

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This is a man known to be filled with
rage and volatility, a guy with a

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hair-trigger temper that has landed
him in trouble with the law.

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But after Jason Beghe joined the
Church of Scientology in 1994,

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he wrote many public statements
testifying that the Church

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had helped make him a new man.

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“I am happier – much happier,”
he wrote.

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And… “I love Scientology
and all that it stands for.

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I’m a new man – more me!!”

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“What I have gotten back
from Scientology

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is nothing less than my life.”

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In 1999, Jason Beghe suffered
a near-fatal car accident,

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unconscious for nearly four weeks.

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Fellow Scientologists remained
at his bedside 24 hours a day,

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7 days a week,

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giving him whatever assistance they
could to help him back to health.

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Subsequently, Jason Beghe described
his recovery as a miracle.

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“From what I hear from the experts,
it’s truly a wonder that I’m alive…

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So again, thank you. I’ve never been
so happy to be alive.”

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But given his severe and frequent
mood swings, it was only a matter of time

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before Jason Beghe’s
simmering rage would boil over…

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… when Beghe, angry over being kept
waiting for an appointment,

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dangled a 14-year-old Scientologist
over the edge of a three-story high terrace

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before being forced
by a witness to stop.

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After this, the Church
expelled this ticking time bomb

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from its congregation
as good riddance.

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Beghe immediately turned to this man
and became the first and only poster

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boy for his small group of
anti-Scientologists …

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… no surprise, since both share a
record of brutality.

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But though the Church was done with
Beghe because of his violent nature,

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Beghe wasn’t done with the Church.

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He went online with
profanity-laced tirades,

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in interviews with known
Church attackers.

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Jason Beghe also showed up in front
of Church buildings, harassing

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parishioners alongside the notorious
cyber terrorist group Anonymous …

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Then he started contacting
Scientology officials, making veiled

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proposals that he and other
vocal detractors would go away

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if he was paid off.

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Saying, according to records:

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“Make some kind of financial gesture
unless you guys

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can come up with something else.”

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Jason Beghe soon proved
his taste for violence again

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on the day a process server showed
up to serve legal documents

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and Beghe snapped into a fit of rage.

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Jason Beghe violently hit me
in the back of my head

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repeatedly with his fist.

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And I saw Beghe walking next to him,
yelling in his ear

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and then he started smacking
the back of his head.

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I said “That’s assault” and he said
“I don’t give a shit”

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and he continued to hit me.

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Jason Beghe was criminally convicted
for battery upon an officer

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and forced to pay $19,000 in restitution.

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But that wasn’t enough to curb
Beghe’s appetite for a good beat down.

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Not long afterwards, in a dispute
over a weed whacker,

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Jason Beghe violently assaulted his
gardener, hitting him repeatedly

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about the head and abdomen.

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In a deposition Jason Beghe refused
to answer whether he threw his own

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young son across a ten-foot wide deck
and down onto the lawn below.

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Amid this history of emotional
instability and physical aggression,

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Jason Beghe has gone to the media.

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Now he's trying to play the victim --
of a religion that was by his own admission –

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something that had only brought him
happiness and peace of mind.

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And in addition to his displays of
angry indignation, this actor can

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even cry on cue,
as he does in these video outtakes.

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She left him…

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And, cut!

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Not coincidentally, Lawrence Wright,
Alex Gibney and Sheila Nevins,

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head of HBO Documentaries
and Family Programming,

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relied on this TV and
real-life tough guy,

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a man who has never had a

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staff or executive position
in the Church --

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as a source of attacks on
Scientology.

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They may show you Jason Beghe’s
anti-religious tirades

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in their HBO documentary,

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but what you won't see is the
violence behind this raging bully.

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In future segments,

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we’re going to show you more of
Lawrence Wright’s “sources"...

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Remember this guy – the ringleader of
that tiny group Lawrence Wright

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befriended and used to tell false
stories about his former religion?

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“Shut the fuck up. I’m tellin’ you
something right now…”

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He was dismissed and expelled from
the Church for criminal activities --

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that's criminal, as in felony.

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His résumé also includes episodes of
shoving, kicking,

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punching and extreme violence.

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And a honeymoon night spent in jail.

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But Lawrence Wright
doesn’t reveal any of that,

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or any other sordid
detail about this man.

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You’ll also meet those
this man calls his "posse":

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Such as the guy he nearly killed, who
he now calls his "best good buddy".

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This guy deserted his children and
ruthlessly attacked his estranged wife…

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…the thief who used to ride shotgun with
the ringleader on his punching sprees.

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Admitted accomplices
in a scheme to suborn perjury –

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getting others to lie under oath.

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And another Lawrence Wright source,
the "lady" expelled from the Church

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for having sexual relations with
someone she was ministering to,

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a violation of professional conduct
in any church. You'll meet her, too.

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…the paid tabloid source and his
wife, whose frivolous lawsuits

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were repeatedly thrown
out of Federal Court

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and the couple ordered
to pay the Church $40,000.

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... and the writer who took advantage
of his Scientology connections to

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take $5 million for writing scripts
he never completed.

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Lawrence Wright and Alex Gibney
could have shown you

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the truth about Scientology.

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For this is Scientology today:

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A rapidly expanding religion with new
churches opening, by the month,

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throughout the world...

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But instead of showing you this,

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Wright and Gibney have chosen
to give you this man...

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Shut the fuck up…

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And his tiny group of followers.

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That’s right – this guy is the leader of
all Lawrence Wright's "sources."

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They are interconnected,
each of them corroborating the other’s

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false stories and lies,
some for big bucks.

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All of them handpicked
to populate the story

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Lawrence Wright and
Alex Gibney want to sell.

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Lawrence Wright, Alex Gibney

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and executive producer Sheila Nevins
know full well who these people really are.

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But you won’t see that on HBO.

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Shut the fuck up…