Tom Cruise ‘irresponsible’ for ignoring Scientology abuse claims: ‘Going Clear’ director

The Oscar-winning director of HBO’s explosive Scientology documentary says Tom Cruise has a duty to address allegations of physical and mental abuse within the church.

Filmmaker Alex Gibney said this week that as the public face of the controversial church, Cruise “can espouse his beliefs, that’s fine. But not to address the allegations of abuse seems to me palpably irresponsible.”

In the film, former church bigwigs allege beatings, forced labor and mental abuse — some of which allegedly occurred inside prison-like conditions — going back decades and continuing in recent years.

“It seems to me [Cruise] has an obligation to speak out,” added Gibney, who spoke at a Q&A following a New York screening of the film, called “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” at HBO’s midtown offices.

That’s why the director, who dubbed Cruise the “Big Kahuna” of Scientology, says he called out the Hollywood hotshot in the film for, among other things, allegedly having ex-wife Nicole Kidman’s phone tapped and getting his private plane and motorcycles maintained by church workers earning less than a dollar per hour.

Neither Cruise, 52, nor Kidman, 47, was interviewed for the movie, which is based on Lawrence Wright’s 2013 book. Cruise’s most recent ex-wife, Katie Holmes, also declined Gibney’s request for an interview.

The church has spoken out against the documentary since its January premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, calling it “bigoted propaganda” that’s “built on falsehood invented by admitted liars.” “By our calculation, the film on average includes at least one major error every two minutes,” the church said in a statement.

The documentary airs on HBO on Sunday night.

Reps for Cruise did not immediately return a request for comment.