CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY - EX-FOXNEW.COM GOSSIP FRIEDMAN SAYS HE'LL SUE

EX-FOXNEW.COM GOSSIP FRIEDMAN SAYS HE'LL SUE

Former FoxNews.com gossip columnist Roger Friedman is planning to file a wrongful termination lawsuit against his former employer, claiming that he was a victim of a campaign by prominent Hollywood members of the Church of Scientology to pressure Fox News to oust him because of his negative comments about their religion. Friedman was fired last April after he wrote a column in which he remarked on the ease with which he had obtained and had been able to view a copy of 20th Century Fox's X-Men Origins Wolverine over the Internet. But, in an interview with the New York Daily News 's Rush & Molloy column, Friedman, who now writes his column for the Hollywood Reporter , claims that the company used the piracy issue as a cover for their actual intent -- to avoid a backlash from Scientologists. The Daily News columnists say one of those who campaigned hardest against Friedman was Kelly Preston, the wife of John Travolta. Moreover, the columnists quote Friedman as saying that when Fox accused him of "promoting" piracy, "nobody from Fox News defended me. ... They let the studio dictate to the newsroom."

15/06/2009