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Tom Cruise — ‘the Goebbels of Scientology’?

The German Protestant Church has compared Cruise to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and that he is using his fame to publicize his faith, the sometimes controversial Church of Scientology.
/ Source: msnbc.com

The war of words over Tom Cruise’s next film is heating up, with a leading church in Germany comparing the Top Gun star to a notorious Nazi.

The German Protestant Church has compared Cruise to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and that he is using his fame to publicize his faith, the sometimes controversial Church of Scientology.

Thomas Gandow, chief spokesman on religious cults for the German Protestant Church, called Scientology a “totalitarian organization” and alleged that Cruise was “the Goebbels of Scientology,” according to various overseas reports, including the London Independent.

Cruise’s camp is slamming his comments as “irresponsible” and “wrongheaded.” Scientology is recognized as a religion in the U.S., but is under scrutiny in some other countries. Tom Cruise has been granted permission to shoot his next film, ‘Valkyrie’ — about an assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler — in Germany, but the project is still stirring up heated reactions.

“This film will have the same propaganda advantages for Scientology as the 1936 Olympics had for the Nazis,” Gandow said, referring to the publicity the 1936 Berlin Games gave Germany.

“Mr. Gandow's comments are both irresponsible and wrongheaded,” a spokeswoman for Cruise said in a statement emailed to The Scoop. “‘Valkyrie’ has nothing to do with Scientology. It is a historically accurate thriller developed by Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie that presents the World War II resistance hero Col. Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg as the heroic and principled figure he was. To attempt to smear such a movie by comparing it to Nazi propaganda flies in the face of reason and logic — and even worse, it belittles the enormity of the Nazis’ crimes.”

Sober, but boring?
Lindsay Lohan isn’t often accused of being “boring” — but that’s what her ex-sweetie is supposedly saying has driven the two apart.

Calum Best is reportedly saying that the recently rehabbed “Mean Girls” star is “too boring” to date now that she’s sober.

Best called Lohan last week, according to reports, and said that he still loved her, but didn’t want to give up partying and it’s time for them to go their separate ways. Lohan’s friends are saying that it’s hardly a loss for the star: the rumor is that Best is the source of compromising pics of Lohan that are allegedly making the rounds.

Notes from all over
Avril Lavigne’s
hubby says that the “Complicated” singer isn’t as angry as people think. “It’s a funny misconception with her,” Deryck Whibley told the Edmonton Sun. “People always think she's really angry and she’s really mad and she really hates everyone, and doesn't care about anything, when the thing she cares about most is her fans and her music.” . . . Paparazzi were baffled recently when Britney Spears was smiling for their cameras one minute and then livid with them the next.  . . . Lionel Richie says he’s not upset that his reality star daughter Nicole is now more famous than he is. “I’ll be in an airport and I’ll hear a bloodcurdling scream. There’ll be a group of Italian kids on holiday, going to Disneyland or something, and I'm thinking, the kids recognize me, thank you very much,” the crooner told Australia’s Sunday Telegraph magazine. “And they rush over to me, and ask, ‘Are you Nicole Richie’s dad?’ and I say, ‘Yep. OK, I’ll take that.’ I’m just the dad. It seems to have made me a bit cool.”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com