Leah Remini's Appearance at Danny Masterson Trial Sparks Court Chaos

Leah Remini has claimed she was almost barred from sitting in the courtroom at Danny Masterson's rape retrial.

The That '70s Show actor, 46, who is an active Scientologist, is facing trial for a second time over alleged sexual misconduct with former members of the church.

He was first accused of sexual assault in 2017 and faced trial in October last year but it ended in a mistrial in November when the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.

In 2020, Masterson was charged with the rape of three women, all in their 20s at the time of the alleged assaults in the early 2000s, but he pleaded not guilty to the charges the following January.

Masterson's retrial started on April 24 but was plagued by drama when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo scolded Masterson's lead defense attorney, Phillip Cohen, on multiple occasions.

The actor's defense team also insisted Remini be removed from the court. The actress, a former Scientologist, had arrived to the courthouse and was sitting in the front row.

A long-time critic of her one-time church, Remini took to Twitter to explain the defense lawyers had wanted her taken out of court as they had served her a subpoena that morning to potentially appear as a witness during the trial.

She wrote on Twitter that she attended court to support the women who accused Masterson of rape.

"Before opening arguments began, Danny's Scientology-controlled lawyers tried to get the judge to throw me out of the courtroom based on the false premise that they had planned to call me as a witness in the trial," Remini tweeted.

"First, I am not on the witness list for the prosecution. Second, this shows how threatened Scientology is by the truth."

Remini also took aim at Scientology leader David Miscavige in a Twitter thread.

"This is what happens when David Miscavige directs your defense; you waste the court's time with embarrassing, petty attempts to get someone who is supporting survivors of sexual violence thrown out," she wrote.

"David Miscavige may be used to ordering around Scientologists, but he will never dictate where I'm allowed to be and what I'm allowed to say."

Remini might also be called as a witness for the prosecution to testify in the case of Jane Doe 1, Assistant District Attorney Reinhold Mueller confirmed during Monday's court proceedings.

The King of Queens actress had been a member of Scientology since her childhood, but became an outspoken critic once she left the church in 2013.

She had also covered Masterson's original trial in her A&E documentary, Leah Remini's Scientology and the Aftermath.

A spokesperson for the church slammed Remini's tweets and told Newsweek she lacks "credibility."

"Remini's only interest is in continuing her profitmaking campaign, fomenting hate and bigotry against the Church. She has no credibility," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

"Remini takes inconsistent positions. When it serves Remini's bigotry against Scientology, she pretends to support women. When it serves her bigotry against Scientology, she stands with rapists. Leah Remini was a vociferous supporter of [...] Paul Haggis. She testified to the absurd myth that the Church was responsible for the allegations against Haggis and going so far as to call Haggis the real 'victim'. The jury never bought this fabricated story for even a minute."

The Oscar-winning Crash film director was ordered to pay almost $10 million in damages to Haleigh Breest in a 2022 civil suit after she accused him of raping her in 2013.

After Breest accusations, three more women came forward with respective sexual misconduct allegations against Haggis, who was also detained in Italy on sexual assault and aggravated personal injury, after a woman pressed charges in 2022, but the charges were later dismissed.

Haggis was a Scientologist for 35 years but left the church in 2009.

Update, 04/26/23, 4:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a response from the Church of Scientology.