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Everything Leah Remini Has Said About Rapist Paul Haggis—and Why It Matters
This month marks the one-year anniversary of Leah Remini’s disgraceful testimony on behalf of rapist Paul Haggis.
But Remini—best known for the unhinged anti-Scientology bigotry that has gotten her cancelled from every platform she once had—went one step further than merely supporting her rapist friend: she avidly and adamantly shamed his victims, denouncing them publicly as “not credible” and “suspect”—all before a unanimous jury awarded the young woman Haggis raped $12.8 million. The verdict came three days after Leah Remini testified Haggis was “the victim here.”
The glowing portrait Leah Remini tried desperately to paint of a violent rapist was utterly rejected in court.
But what exactly did Remini say? And why does it matter?
The answer is direct and ugly. After Haggis’ young victim recounted how he ripped off her tights and forced her to perform oral sex on him—jamming himself into her mouth before violently raping her, at which point she passed out, Leah Remini took to the stand on November 7, 2022 to describe Paul Haggis this way:
- “He’s somebody that you would want in your corner.”
- “A decent man.”
- “A good man.”
- “Loving, friendly, supportive.”
- “Supportive, loving, caring.”
- “Caring, funny, warm.”
- “He’s very much for what is right.”
- “It is Paul who is the victim here.”
Prior to taking the stand to testify a violent sexual predator was “the victim,” Remini published an open letter protecting Haggis and attacking his accusers. She wrote:
- “Paul Haggis is a good man” who has “championed the rights of women.”
- “He is truly a gentleman. A gentle man with impeccable manners and a generous heart.”
- Remini ridiculed Haggis’ victims, referring to them as “‘anonymous’ accusers, hiding behind a lawyer” and hinted that someone with an ax to grind was “paying their bill.”
- “They are suspect. ... Very suspect,” Remini wrote of Haggis’ victims.
- She added: “Accusers who have NOT gone to law enforcement are not credible.”
After Haggis was found unanimously liable for rape, Remini had many opportunities to walk back her advocacy for the rapist and apologize to the victims she vociferously and publicly shamed. Remini not only did not take those opportunities, she defiantly carried on with her public support, liking Haggis’ Instagram posts month after month as if to demonstrate to women everywhere she still stood with the sexual predator, no matter what his victims—or a jury—said.
“Testifying for a predator is so, so harmful.”
Women everywhere were shocked and horrified that a woman in Hollywood would not only use her platform to champion a rapist, but double down on her support after that rapist was held accountable. Worse, Remini followed up this hideous behavior by using the #MeToo movement as a prop in subsequent months, asserting that she stands with victims of sexual violence in spite of her well-documented and public record of doing the exact opposite.
What follows is a sampling of the responses she received on social media:
- “I’d NEVER publicly side with a man accused of rape.”
- “Leah is dead wrong here.”
- “How can the most heinous criminal be a victim?! So sick!”
- “There’s not one man I would ever get on the stand and make these claims for. Not one.”
- “Can we extend some of this grace to the victims who were likely present when Leah Remini said they were liars?”
- “What the f—k Leah? She’s willing to throw victims under the bus.”
- “Awful that she’s testifying against these women.”
- “I would never claim to be an advocate for abuse, then use that status to attack victims. The arrogance.”
- “It’s foul that ppl call themselves sexual abuse advocates and speak against the victims.”
- “Testifying for a predator is so, so harmful.”
One of Haggis’ accusers was so outraged by Remini’s victim shaming that she penned an open letter in The Hollywood Reporter. “Shame on you,” she wrote, addressing Leah Remini. “Isn’t now the time to be listening to your sisters? [Your] baseless statements attempt to silence all of us and the entire #MeToo movement.”
