Rupert Murdoch Gooses Slow, Hot Sunday With Snap at ‘Creepy’ Scientology [Updated]

News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch sometimes thinks “out loud” on his Twitter feed, pondering recent news and issuing his own opinions. Today, while musing on the split between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Mr. Murdoch dropped this doozy:

Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

Twitter wits were driven from their heat-wave-induced torpor, assailing Mr. Murdoch for pointing out “the obvious” as well as implying the emperor of News Corp. was ignoring the phone-hacking elephant in the room.

Business Insider suggests an off-the-cuff, potentially provocative observation such as this from Mr. Murdoch is one of the best things about Twitter. Henry Blodget observes, “Never before have celebrities and media stars been able to show this side of themselves to so many people–in real time–without media intermediaries in the middle.” We are inclined to agree. Anything that takes us away from panting through an apocalyptic heat wave for a moment.

UPDATE

Village Voice editor Tony Ortega, who has been on the Scientology beat for years, points out Mr. Murdoch was doubling down in his “creepy, maybe even evil” tweet on an earlier Sunday morning observation made about Mr. Hubbard’s peculiar institution:

Scientology back in news.Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hiearchy.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012