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Scientology Targeted South Park's Parker and Stone in Investigation - Village Voice (blog)
By Tony Ortega 23 October 2011, 10:35 am


Stone and Parker

Another interesting revelation at Marty Rathbun's blog this morning: Rathbun released what he said was an internal Scientology document which suggests that the church targeted Trey Parker and Matt Stone for a classic OSA investigation in retaliation for the infamous South Park episode that exposed the religion's bizarre upper-level teachings.

Rathbun tells me this initial document is just the beginning of a trove that describes how Scientology investigated Parker and Stone over a significant period after the duo deeply embarrassed the church with its 2005 episode, "Trapped in the Closet."....

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/scientology_tar.php

[mefree]

The story continues...

Scientology's South Park Investigation: Orders to Send in a Young Mole - Village Voice
By Tony Ortega - Mon., Oct. 24 2011 at 11:12 AM

Yesterday, we reported that former Scientology executive Marty Rathbun had revealed at his blog that in 2006, Scientology's Office of Special Affairs -- the church's intelligence and covert operations wing -- was actively investigating South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone by looking for vulnerabilities among their close friends.

Today, we have more leaked OSA documents which give some idea of the extent of the spying operation on the South Park offices and the people who worked there.

They suggest that after traditional approaches with private investigators had stalled, OSA turned to film consultant Eric Sherman, a Scientologist, to help them find a young filmmaker who would make an effective mole at the South Park offices.

For decades, Scientology has earned a reputation for severe retaliation against perceived enemies and carrying on "noisy investigations" that involve private investigators and intimidation squads. We've been documenting many examples of that this year as Scientology goes through perhaps its most difficult period....

much more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/south_park_trey_parker_matt_stone_scientology_investigation.php

[mefree]

Scientology Responds in Typical Fashion to South Park Investigation Document - Village Voice
By Tony Ortega Tue., Oct. 25 2011 at 11:16 AM

As we've been reporting the last couple of days, a man who was once the second-highest ranking executive in Scientology, Marty Rathbun, has made public several documents showing that in 2006, the church attempted to dig up dirt on South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Those documents come from Scientology's "Office of Special Affairs," which has long overseen the church's retaliation and spying operations. Rathbun himself oversaw similar operations during his many years at the top levels of Scientology, and another recent defector, Mike Rinder, led OSA for some 20 years before leaving the church in 2007.

Yesterday, a newspaper in the UK, The Independent, managed to get a response about the controversy from Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw. And in typical Scientology fashion, her response only makes things worse for the church....

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/scientology_res.php

[mefree]

Ortega continues to investigate with this latest article:

Lloyd Kaufman on Scientology and South Park: Eric Sherman Did Ask Me about ... - Village Voice (blog)
26 October 2011, 11:02 am
By Tony Ortega Wed., Oct. 26 2011 at 10:50 AM



​Just got off the phone with Troma Studios founder Lloyd Kaufman, who says he's been getting a lot of calls since we reported this weekend that he is mentioned in Scientology documents which detail a retaliatory investigation of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

In 2005, Parker and Stone aired "Trapped in the Closet," an episode of South Park that deeply embarrassed Scientology by mocking its upper-level teachings. By the spring of 2006, the formerly secret documents suggest, Scientology's Office of Special Affairs was overseeing a multi-pronged effort to retaliate against the animators by researching their public records, digging through their trash, and doing the same to their close friends and employees. In two different documents, mention is also made that Kaufman was pumped for information with the use of a longtime Scientologist and filmmaker named Eric Sherman.

This morning, Kaufman confirmed to me that in 2006, Sherman -- an old college classmate and longtime friend -- did call him up to ask about Parker and Stone....

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/lloyd_kaufman_scientology_south_park.php

[mefree]

Just a bit of coverage on this story:

http://www.google.com/search?q=matt+stone+and+trey+parker+south+park+Scientology&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=matt+stone+and+trey+parker+south+park+Scientology&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=nws&source=og&sa=N&tab=wn&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=22bea61feb8d9166&biw=1280&bih=619

[mefree]

Mark Ebner on Scientology and South Park: Rathbun is Definitely Leaking ... - Village Voice (blog)
27 October 2011, 9:04 am
By Tony Ortega Thu., Oct. 27 2011 at 9:00 AM


Ebner

As we continue to investigate Scientology's retaliation campaign against South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and their friends and employees, we remembered that an old colleague of ours, journalist Mark Ebner, worked with the animator duo for their infamous 2005 episode "Trapped in the Closet."

Ebner is important to this investigation for a couple of reasons. Not only did he work with Parker and Stone on the very episode that raised Scientology's hackles, but Ebner has himself been the subject of a concerted Scientology harassment campaign through its "Office of Special Affairs" -- and he learned about that campaign through a document leaked by former Scientology executive Marty Rathbun.

As we've written earlier, Mark Ebner has a long and illustrious track record reporting on the Church of Scientology. In particular, he is known for his 1996 Spy magazine adventure, for which he actually joined the church to go through its auditing and purification rundown in order to write about it....

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/mark_ebner_on_s.php