Seth Rogen has expressed gratitude over “dodging” Tom Cruise’s alleged attempt to recruit him to join Scientology.
Rogen made the claim in a 2021 SiriusXM interview with Howard Stern that resurfaced on Wednesday, January 11.
Recounting how Tom Cruise tried to recruit him, Rogen alleged;
“He said, ‘If you let me just tell you what it was really about … If you let me — just give me like, 20 minutes to like, really just tell you what it was about, you would say, No f–king way! No f–king way!
“I remember being like, the wording was like, is that a good thing to be saying?”
The “Superbad” actor said he and Judd Apatow who was also present at the meeting with Cruise, looked at each other in that “very loaded moment” and wondered whether they were strong enough to “come out of this” without being converted.
Rogen added;
“I don’t know if I am — I’m generally a weak-willed, weak-minded person — I would assume on the grand scale of people. If they got him, what chance do I have?
“Thank God Judd was like, ‘I think we’re good, let’s just talk about movies and stuff.’ Woof. Dodged that bullet.”
Though Rogen was happy to have not been affected by his colleague's pitch, Tom Cruise has remained a longtime member of the church which came under heavy criticism for being an alleged cult.
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious movement.
Scientology teaches that a human is an immortal, spiritual being (Thetan) that resides in a physical body and has had innumerable past lives. Some Scientology texts are only revealed after followers have spent more than $200,000 in the organization, and it charges tens of thousands of dollars for access to these texts in what it calls "Operating Thetan" levels. The organization has gone to considerable lengths to try to keep these secret, but they are freely available on the internet.
