John Stamos was kicked out of Scientology for goofing off

Last Updated on October 1, 2024

Scientology has an extensive list of celebrities associated with the practice. We know the usual names: Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Elisabeth Moss are current prominent members, while some, like Leah Remini, Beck and Jason Lee, have all left for various reasons. And then there are those who were never given a chance. As it turns out, the Church of Scientology had no mercy on John Stamos.

As he recalled on Matt Friend’s Friends in High Places podcast (via EW), John Stamos remembered at first being lured into Scientology by a babe long before he got his first acting gig on General Hospital. “I was in an acting class and there was this hot girl. She said, ‘You know, we’re all meeting at this address on Hollywood Boulevard, come after [class]!’ I was working at my dad’s restaurant at the time and I said, ‘Dad I gotta, I gotta go.’ So I went and it was the Scientology building. I was 16, 17.”

Upon sitting in on a Scientology session where he had to hold an E-Meter (a device used to “measures mental state and change of state”, according to the official website), he couldn’t help but mock the scenario. “You’re holding these two cans, so I started, you know, ‘Hello…Peabody in the Wayback Machine!’ You know, Sherman and Peabody.” And that was about all it took for Stamos to be booted from any further sessions at the Church of Scientology. “They didn’t like that. I was just f*cking around so much that they said, ‘Get out. Get. Go.’ They just kinda kicked me out.” Interestingly, also around this time John Stamos found himself on the set of Grease, whose star, noted Scientologist John Travolta, was an inspiration for the up-and-coming actor.

Several years after toying with Scientology, John Stamos would land his true breakout, Full House, where he played Jesse Katsopolis, the uncle obsessed with Elvis…who was, by coincidence, also reportedly once lured into a meeting at the Church of Scientology. Presley’s wife and daughter also had ties to Scientology at different points.

While Stamos says he dodged a bullet – or at least a missing persons report – by goofing off, he has fared quite well without Scientology.