Although Tom Cruise’s reps have dismissed Vanity Fair’s latest cover story as “lies designed to sell magazines,” writer and director Paul Haggis has come out in support of the article, which alleges that the Church of Scientology acts as Cruise’s creepy personal dating service.

In a letter to entertainment website Showbiz 411, Haggis, a former Scientologist, confirms that the church thoroughly vetted Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi in 2005, then ostracized and humiliated her when she wasn’t deemed a suitable wife for the actor.

“I was deeply disturbed by how the highest-ranking members of a church could so easily justify using one of their members — how they so callously punished her and then so effectively silenced her when it was done,” Haggis writes. “It wasn’t just the threats; they actually made her feel ashamed, when all she had been was human and trusting.”

We’re not sure what’s so wrong with trusting, but human? That’s definitely a Cruise deal breaker.

Nicki Minaj a Republican?

Nicki Minaj gets political in her new duet with Lil Wayne, “Mercy.” “I’m a Republican voting for Mitt Romney, you lazy b– is f–ing up the economy,” she raps on the song, which is part of Wayne’s new mixtape, “Dedication 4.”

Listen here, people: Whoever tells Mittens that Minaj dressed up like a sexy nun and paraded down the red carpet with a pope impersonator is dead to us. We need to see these two pair up on the campaign trail. We need it.

Get well soon, Billie Joe!

Green Day canceled their Sunday night gig in Bologna after singer Billie Joe Armstrong was rushed to the hospital. He surfaced in L.A. on Tuesday, where he mouthed to a TMZ reporter that his voice was gone, but reports cite “gastric problems” for the cause of his hospitalization. Our theory: He remembered he agreed to be a mentor on “The Voice” this season. We had a similar reaction when we heard the news.