A&E boss says Scientology is harassing her over Leah Remini's TV show
The Hollywood Reporter reported that during her keynote address at the National Association of Television Program Executives in Miami on Tuesday, A+E Networks President and CEO Nancy Dubuc said that Scientology has been harassing her on social media.
"My personal Twitter is all anti-Leah," Dubuc said. "My friends think it's wild."
It's so overwhelming, Dubuc suspects the church could be paying for negative social-media posts about the show.
The hourlong, weekly docuseries follows actress Leah Remini as she teams with other former Scientologists to uncover the organization's history, secretive practices, and alleged abuses against its members. The church has declined to take part in the A&E show and has refuted the claims of its participants as false.
"We're very proud of her," Dubuc said of Remini. "It's a courageous thing to do."
Previously, Remini accused Scientology of trying to shut the show down and ruin her reputation in Hollywood. She demanded it pay her $1.5 million in damages.
For Dubuc and the cable channel, the show's giant ratings may make the harassment worth it.
It premiered back in November to 2.1 million viewers. Of that, 1.1 million viewers were in the cable network's target audience, viewers between the ages of 25 and 54. That made the series A&E's best new series launch since the premiere of "Big Smo" more than two years ago on June 11, 2014.
Scientology representatives didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.