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Hate & Lies Have No Place on Spin.com
As Spin is about celebrating what is great in music—not targeting, marginalizing or demonizing members of a religion or minority group—I am sure you would agree this type of content has no place on your website.
May 24, 2021
Mr. Daniel Kohn
Managing Editor
Spin.com
Daniel.kohn@spin.com
Dear Mr. Kohn,
I am reaching out in relation to Alex Galbraith’s May 11 article “Oh, Florida!” on Spin.com, which contains gratuitous anti-Scientology bigotry.
As Spin is about celebrating what is great in music—not targeting, marginalizing or demonizing members of a religion or minority group—I am sure you would agree this type of content has no place on your website.
Specifically, Galbraith introduces his interview with members of the local Florida band “Home Is Where” by stating he spoke with them about a number of issues, including Scientology. He then asks why the band has a song with Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s name in the title, at which point one of the band members launches into a series of falsehoods about the Scientology religion—lies that can be sourced exclusively to anti-Scientology extremists whose goal is to spread hate.
This type of disinformation has been responsible for more than 600 threats and acts of violence against Scientologists in recent years, including the murder of one young Scientology staff member in January of 2019.
As you likely know, Scientology is a recognized religion in the United States and across the globe. Our religion and our members are nothing like the way they are characterized in this misguided article.
While the band members of Home Is Where are personally responsible for the disinformation they consume and the discriminatory rhetoric they consequently condone, Spin is under no obligation to print such hate on its own virtual pages.
I am therefore writing to request your assistance in removing the offensive content from this article. At a time when hate of all kinds has never been more widely condemned, this would not only be the right thing to do, but a step toward protecting your brand and keeping it on the side of history it should stay on.
Thank you in advance.
