For years I’ve written about how crazy amFAR is. The organization started by Dr. Mathilde Krim and people like Elizabeth Taylor to raise research funds for AIDS was once all about saving people. Then it became about parties, celebrities, and exclusivity.

Now amFAR is having an open civil war and I’m not surprised. The crazy bunch who’ve slowly taken the group over is now attacking the two people who’ve kept the place going all these years– movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and retailer Kenneth Cole. Before this, the same people chucked out Sharon Stone, who’d literally put them on the map brandwise.

According to the New York Times, four board members are now battling Weinstein and Cole: Vincent Roberti, Mervyn Silverman, Arlen Andelson and Jonathan Canno. Their leader is said to be Roberti, a Connecticut developer and lobbyist who was acquitted in 1992 of burning down one his buildings. A 2012 Connecticut Post editorial described him as “a former Connecticut state representative, turned failed Bridgeport mayoral candidate, turned bankrupt developer, turned exonerated arson-for-insurance-scam suspect, turned big-time Washington, D.C., lobbyist and movie producer.” (His most recent entry on the imdb is a 2009 short film called “Asshole.”)

Add to that list Kevin Frost, the president of amFAR. You may remember Frost. He banned me from all amFAR events after I revealed that the organization paid Madonna’s charity, Raising Malawi, $1 million for her appearance at in 2010. (Madonna had never given a penny to amFAR previously and hasn’t since then either.) Frost didn’t like it either when I exposed his poor treatment of Stone, who’d valiantly led their annual auctions in Cannes to millions of dollars. She was ousted unceremoniously.

This gang had better be careful. They are not the simple but organized Elton John AIDS Foundation. (It should be noted that both Sir Elton and the late Elizabeth Taylor broke away from amFAR years ago and started their own foundations after amFAR was taken over by the current regime.) Weinstein and Cole are amFAR’s two most prominent goodwill ambassadors in the celebrity world Frost, et al. covet. So was Stone. Without them, amFAR as it works now would have a very empty tent come the annual Cannes fundraiser.

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith, disavowing Scientology, will be attending High Holiday services in Palm Desert, California. She is not Jewish. But Rabbi Andrew Bentley emailed me this message when I asked: “Just to confirm that Jada Pinkett Smith has attended our shabbat services, lit candles with us and has bought tickets and will be attending Yom Kippur and break the fast at Temple Sinai of Palm Desert.”

When I queried Rabbi Bentley what Jada’s interest was in all this, he responded:

“That’s between her and G-d. We enjoy having her and find her to be a lovely person.”

There was no word whether husband Will Smith or children Willow or Jaden will accompany her. The only connection Jada has to Temple Sinai is through her publicist, Karynne Tencer, who is a member.

Recently Leah Remini asserted that Pinkett-Smith was indeed a Scientologist, that she’d seen her a lot at the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood. This much is true: Will and Jada, for a while, were being actively recruited by Tom Cruise for Scientology. That’s when Remini may have noticed their participation. The Smiths started a private school in Calabasas, California that used Scientology study techniques. The first principal of the school instituted Scientology curriculum. (The school went belly up after a couple of years.) They donated money to Scientology organizations through the Will Smith Foundation. Will and son Jaden made a Scientology-oriented movie called “After Earth” that flopped and almost killed Will’s career.

But when Remini– who is bravely peeling back all layers of Scientology’s influence in Hollywood– made her assertion about Jada, the actress fought back. She posted: “I recently lit Shabbat candles with Rabbi Bentley at Temple Sinai… but I am not Jewish.I have prayed in mosques all over the world… but I am not a Muslim. I have read the Bhagavad Gita… but I am not a Hindu. I have chanted and meditated in some of the most magnificent temples on earth… but I am not a Buddhist. I have studied Dianetics, and appreciate the merits of Study Tech… but I am not a Scientologist.I practice human kindness, and I believe that we each have the right to determine what we are and what we are not. NO ONE ELSE can hold that power.”

Indeed, I’ve reported on the money the Smiths have donated to various religions and causes over the years. The most surprising of these was the connection to Scientology, which many consider a dangerous cult. But it may just be that the Smiths– Jada especially– is just a spiritual person trying everything. I hope she has an easy fast on Yom Kippur.

More on the Smiths and Scientology here and here and here.