The church of Scientology has gone viral for an utterly bizarre trend in which people ‘speedrun’ their churches and offices, leading to a major response from the infamous cult.
The trend originated on TikTok and sees people essentially raid the offices of the church, pushing their way through the doors and sprinting inside to see how deep into the buildings they can get.
It has quickly got out of hand however, with viral videos showing large groups of people pushing over staff as they sprint through the halls of their buildings.
Swhileyy, the TikToker who originated the speedrunning trend, has issued a desperate plea amid police intervention and the cult removing the external handles to the doors of some of their buildings.
The 18-year-old originated the trend when he decided to run into a Hollywood Church of Scientology building, laughing at staffers who told him to leave. The trend is inspired in part by the secretive nature of the Church, with people 'speedrunning' to get as far inside the buildings as they can to see what is hidden inside.
The Scientology speedrunning originator is begging people to stop the trend
Swhileyy spoke recently to The Hollywood Reporter about his video which he estimates is in the ‘hundreds of millions’ for views when you include reposts.
Advert
He said in the interview: “I do not condone what I did, even though I didn’t break any laws. All I did was explore the building. I was never asked not to come back to the premises.”
The online creator revealed that, when he found out about the Church of Scientology and their many controversies, it made him to decide to film a video. He previously filmed a viral clip in which he bought a Scientology book from the building on Hollywood boulevard.
He added: “From there on out, I pretty much knew that Scientology was like a free gateway to a lot of views… I never once in any video or any comment section or anywhere promoted the idea of running through there or beating my record.”
Swhileyy has since taken down the video, and his bio on TikTok now reads: "They got me for all the videos."
LAPD have responded to one incident, and a viral video showed the intense response from the Church of Scientology
The LAPD were called in one incident according to TMZ in which they claimed ‘50 kids’ decided to try and ‘speedrun’ a building in Hollywood but may have been as few as seven kids.
The website have also stated that another incident is being investigated by the police.
Whilst the cult has yet to speak out publicly, the closest thing to a response has come in a video in which they had brought in multiple members to link arms seemingly to protect the building.
A video on X showed the scenes, with the handles also having been taken off the building to prevent people getting inside.
Another poster said: “The Scientology buildings in Hollywood have now removed all their door handles and chained the doors shut from the inside in attempt to stop the viral speedruns.”
LADbible Group have contacted the Church of Scientology for comment.
Michael Slavin