Cedric Bixler-Zavala Responds To Danny Masterson Guilty Verdict: “Fuck Scientology”
Mars Volta lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala has some words for the Church Of Scientology. Today, a jury found disgraced That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson (and longtime Scientologist) guilty of two out of three counts of rape in a Los Angeles retrial. “I’ll be making a list of all Danny’s helpers and rape apologists to show all of you why women don’t report rape,” wrote Bixler-Zavala, who left the church in 2017 after joining in 2009. His wife, Chrissie Carnell-Bixler, was one of four women who accused Masterson of drugging, raping, and sexually assaulting them in the early 2000s. Bixler-Zavala also testified against Masterson in 2022.
Bixler-Zavala continues via Instagram: “We fucking told you. God bless the women that stood up to him and his shitty fucking family. Fuck Scientology. Rot in jail Danny. God bless my wife. True fucking warrior.” He adds in a caption: “May peace reign over my family. To everyone who spoke up and helped, thank you. To DA Mueller, and Ariel Anson and Detective Vargas… God bless you.”
In a second Instagram post, Bixler-Zavala wrote: “In case you’ve sleeping under a fucking rock placed there by scientology. My wife and the survivors did the unthinkable. Go ahead and send her love. She needs it.”
Earlier in May, Bixler-Zavala claims spoke to the LA Times about reuniting with the Mars Volta and how members of the Church Of Scientology had allegedly been harassing him and his wife, who came forward against Masterson in 2017.
In a 2019 civil lawsuit against Masterson, the Church of Scientology International, and its leader David Miscavige, the couple allege that the Church poisoned their dogs, stalked and surveilled them, and claimed they were “fair game” for retaliation. Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw said in a statement that “the scandalous allegations about the Church” in the Bixlers’ suit were “complete fabrications.”
“I could see the crisis of faith in her when they made her feel like this was her fault,” Bixler-Zavala said of the moment his wife came forward with allegations against Masterson. “In Scientology, certain emotions are just bad; it’s bad to go the route of any medicine, self-help, psychiatry. It’s bad to question anything. It was like we lived in North Korea.”
The civil lawsuit also states that Carnell-Bixler dated Masterson for several years “per his orders” and that the actor would regularly force her to have sex with him and would “become violent” when she refused.
Also during the interview, Bixler-Zavala described how he and his wife still live in constant fear of the Church. “My life is at the point where if my phone rings in my house, my children go and hide under their bed,” he said, referring to his 10-year-old twin sons. “My kids know a monster did something bad to their mom.”
No sentencing date for Masterson has yet been set, but the judge told him and his lawyers to return to court August 4 for a hearing. Masterson could face 30 years to life in prison.