Mel Gibson Ooops!

mike65

Arrested for drink driving he went off on one ranting against Jews. The cop who stopped him was Jewish.

According to press reports, Gibson was abusive to the arresting officer, telling him that "Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," and asking the officer is he was a (bleeping) Jew.

Cue statement

There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark.

I want to apologise specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI (driving under the influence) charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena.

As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologise directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.


The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life.

Every human being is God's child, and if I wish to honour my God I have to honour his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I'm not just asking for forgiveness.

I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one-on-one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have begun an ongoing programme of recovery and what I am now realising is that I cannot do it alone.


I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery.

Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable.

But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic licence. This is about real life and recognising the consequences hurtful words can have.

It's about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.

Gibson is a powerful player in Hollywood but so is the Jewish "lobby" so will he suffer for his ranting?

check the reporters name!

Mike.

Kingp35

I think Gibson may have burnt his bridges with those comments. Its well known that most of the studio bosses in Hollywood are Jewish and there is huge Jewish influence throughout Hollywood. What Gibson was thinking I dont know and im not sure that statement will do him any favours either.

If Apocolypto flops then Gibson could be gone from Hollywood.

6ix

"Stereotyping Jews is terrrrriblle!"

StarryBud

Give the friggin jews a break Mel, you bastard!

Ohh right right sure Mel next you'll be saying we should stick them into a nice big holiday camp and slowly reduce their meals to nothing but porridge and piss!

Why'd you have to be such an ASSHOLE Mel?

Wacker

And why the hell does he have to drink and drive? Hasn't he got the price of a taxi? Scumbag.

I wish this guy no success for the rest of his career. FRREDOM!!!

J.R.HARTLEY

Kingp35 wrote:

What Gibson was thinking I dont know

he was tanked , he wasn't thinking
tbh i'm sure the current anti israeli feeling thats doing the rounds in certain quarters at the moment coupled with the completely hysterical reaction to his harmless little itchy and scratchy retelling of the jebus story was swirling around in his head somewhere.

FX Meister

Kingp35 wrote:

I think Gibson may have burnt his bridges with those comments. Its well known that most of the studio bosses in Hollywood are Jewish and there is huge Jewish influence throughout Hollywood. What Gibson was thinking I dont know and im not sure that statement will do him any favours either.

If Apocolypto flops then Gibson could be gone from Hollywood.

Come on, that's never going to happen. We need to look at a few simple facts.
Mel Gibson = Money. FACT
Jews love Money . FACT
Therefore Jews love Mel Gibsson. Fact & QED

RAIN

Yet again southpark is rite ....southpark is my religion ...

projectmayhem

RAIN wrote:

Yet again southpark is rite ....southpark is my religion ...

i was just gonna say, i smell another south park episode stemming from this

JohnK

I'm quite sure that this will all blow over pretty soon so I'd dont think it will cause him many longterm problems.

aidan_walsh

Heh, wonder how many anti-semetic points "Passion of the Christ" earned after this?

Pigman II

I don't think it'll harm him that much. The jews are great for turning the other cheek and seeing the funny side of things .... aren't they? Plus they like the dollar as much as anyone else so as long as the Gibson makes a profit they'll probably keep dealing with him.

Anyway, the bible-belt love Gibson (esp since POTC) so he might be able to finance movies that way if he gets blackballed by hollywood, albeit stuff of Ned Flanders variety.

Qapla!

humanji

And in a way it's kind of ironic that ABC dropped him from a series about what happened the Jews in the holocaust because of this.

GreenDoor

6ix wrote:

"Stereotyping Jews is terrrrriblle!"

Dosn't mean it's not true though.

imeddyhobbs

he said what i was thinking,pitty he said sorry for it!

ixoy

Keep the Semite-politics and views out of it - this is a films forum. End of.

DonkeyStyle \o/

I'm sick of hearing about Mel Gibson tbh... he's just another actor schmuck to me, I don't know why the news reports feel the need to relay his every drunken rant.

my words carry weight in the public arena.

Why?
Is there some public confusion between people who're in the public eye because they're on TV/in movies and people who're in the public eye because they're the best and the brightest and have been elected to speak on behalf of thousands of people?
Reminds me of that clip in Farenheit911 where Brittney Spears is being asked what she thinks about the Bush administration... I mean who cares? Just sod off and sing your little songs... you're not as important as you think you are.

Diogenes

ixoy wrote:

Keep the Semite-politics and views out of it - this is a films forum. End of.

Thats it? Two people make a phenominally sweeping rascist statement and they get a ticking off. Man film forum is waaaayyyyy more tolerant than politics.

Why?
Is there some public confusion between people who're in the public eye because they're on TV/in movies and people who're in the public eye because they're the best and the brightest and have been elected to speak on behalf of thousands of people?
Reminds me of that clip in Farenheit911 where Brittney Spears is being asked what she thinks about the Bush administration... I mean who cares? Just sod off and sing your little songs... you're not as important as you think you are.

Because Mel Gibson has the power to make a film in a language that hasn't been used commonly in 2,000 years, and yet because of his subject matter and the way it is portrayed in his film it generates, well frankly the kind of money that could fund a small african nation for year.

Combine this with Gibson's father's holocaust denials, and the Zionist lobby groups feeling Gibson had protrayed them unfairly in the passion (although, and again this is politics, the pro Israeli Zionist lobby group are quick to smear anti semite on any criticism of Israeli policy).

If you feel this is a matter of personal opinion fair enough. People shouldn't make a big deal about this instance fair enough. Lets look at a hypothetical, there's a colleague or client, or even a friend, or someone who you do a great deal of business with, and you hear through the grapevine that they've been arrested for drink driving and when arrested made profoundly racist/homophobic/abusive/sexist remarks (remember Gibson also refered to a female cop as "sugar titties" and said "You know who you're f*cking with,I f*cking own malibu" or words to that effect) Now when it came to dealing with said person, would you continue normal relations? Would you still be their friend? Would you decline their business?

Thats whats' happening here, only under the global media spotlight. Gibson's got a $40m movie waiting for release, has courted contraversy with the Jewish community in the past, has a wacky father, and is an incredibly successful movie star earning more for a few months work than most of us will earn in a lifetime. And you're wondering why this story has legs?

The studios are not run by "the jews" as one ignoramus said earlier in this thread, they're corporations, alot of Japanese money, conglomerates, but they are based in the one of the most liberal and progressive states in the US. For people to do business with Gibson at the moment would be to suggest we're okay working with a racist bigot. No one is touching him with a barge pole. He needs to be rembraced by the Jewish community (a tough act for a phenominally devout catholic) prove he's over the booze, and the one lifeline he had (his documentary) on the holocaust, has been taken away. His studio are planning to totally redo the marketing of his feature (which heavily emphasis's his credentials) to remove him.

Don't expect Mel to be featuring in a skit in next years Oscars........

JohnK

Diogenes wrote:

If you feel this is a matter of personal opinion fair enough. People shouldn't make a big deal about this instance fair enough. Lets look at a hypothetical, there's a colleague or client, or even a friend, or someone who you do a great deal of business with, and you hear through the grapevine that they've been arrested for drink driving and when arrested made profoundly racist/homophobic/abusive/sexist remarks (remember Gibson also refered to a female cop as "sugar titties" and said "You know who you're f*cking with,I f*cking own malibu" or words to that effect)

Diogenes wrote:

Now when it came to dealing with said person, would you continue normal relations?

Yes

Diogenes wrote:

Would you still be their friend?

Yes

Diogenes wrote:

Would you decline their business?

No


I find that myself and my friends have had and still do have hugely different political, moral and religious differences but that’s never impacted our friendship so I don’t see why any of the above would. It would be a very boring world if we always agreed with each other.

Diogenes

It would be a very boring world if we always agreed with each other.

Disagree fine, come out with a morally abhorant sweeping statement about a race, sexuality, or religion?

I can disagree with a friend or workmate, but if they came out with a statement like "jews caused all the wars" or aid's is god's punishment for being gay" I've have immense trouble being friends or working with them.

Thats essentially whats going to happen to Gibson on a grander scale.

Pink Bunny

I hope Mel's career plummets because of his statements.

Drinking doesn't force you to say things you don't believe, but it does loosen your tongue and reveal those things you know are unacceptable.

Unfortunately his rant and some of the posts here just go to show that antisemtism is still alive and well. :mad: I challenge anyone to substitute the words (Arab, Gay, Black etc...) in the place of "Jew" and think about the wholesale rage that would be thrown at him.

J.R.HARTLEY

i don't think the changing of any other racial term would have made the reaction any bigger, it's almost like your insinutaing that people will let him away with it because it's "only against the jewish people" thats crap.
the other thing that "alcohol does" is cloud the judgment part of you brain too meaning you don't have to believe what you say because you can't rationalise it properly and therefore it doesn't seem like a big deal to you.

we don't know if he believed what he said so making defining and absolute statements like that are foolish.

Pink Bunny

I see your point that our judgement is clouded when we are drunk, I've had too much to drink at times myself to judge someone purely on a drunk statement.

However what I suppose I should made more clear is that although we all have our guard down while under the influence, things we say have to come from somewhere. I mean, he doesn't have terets syndrome where anything random comes out without any basis, usually if we say something it's because the thought is hidden down there below the surface already.

I can only go on what my reaction would have been if I were him and of all the things to say, that would have never even entered my mind.

And yeah, I do think that if he had said "black" or "gay" there would have been a huge outcry.

Terry

6ix wrote:

"Stereotyping Jews is terrrrriblle!"

passion of the jew is on tv right now. i think a couple of people missed your reference.

from imdb.com:

Group Seeks Gibson Boycott Billboard


A group of Los Angeles residents who are trying to post an anti-Mel Gibson billboard advertisement insists it is getting nowhere - because they are convinced media companies don't want to alienate the lucrative star. The group has been trying to buy a billboard that features Gibson's mug shot with the word "no" over it in red. They are trying to secure space on the city's famous Sunset Boulevard and have been repeatedly turned down once billboard companies learn the content of the proposed billboard. Publicist Andy Behrman, who is spearheading the effort, tells website TheScoop.com, "We wanted to make a statement that anti-Semitism is not OK in Hollywood - or anywhere else. They tell us it will be fine, and then when they learn we want to protest Mel Gibson, there's suddenly some problem." Behrman says he even got an OK to erect the billboard on August 15 - until ad space bosses learned all about the protest. He adds, "I got a call back saying, 'My boss doesn't want to touch this Mel Gibson thing.'"

and:

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo star Rob Schneider is the first actor to publicly announce he will never work with Mel Gibson due to the anti-Semitic remarks he made when he was arrested last Friday. Schneider took out an ad in Hollywood trade paper Variety slamming the star for his behavior in "An Open Letter to the Hollywood Community." The ad appeared yesterday and said, "I, Rob Schneider, a 1/2 Jew, pledge from this day forth to never work with Mel Gibson-actor-director-producer-and anti-Semite." Schneider then went on to say even if he were offered the lead role in Passion Of The Christ 2 or a "juicy voice-over role in his new flick Apocalypto and spoke ancient Mayan" he would still turn them down. He also repeatedly praised Hollywood talent manager Bernie Brillstein for publicly saying he would refuse to work with Gibson because "I just don't like bigots." The actor continued by saying he had recently directed a film called Big Stan in which there was a part for a Nazi gang leader "which apparently Mel would be perfect for." Schneider said he would still not cast Gibson in that role and ended the letter by saying, "Of course that would only be after I talked with my financial backers. Some of whom share Mr. Gibson's hankering for a good bottle of tequila. Because, after all...I don't get to call all the shots."

i'm sure he's devestated at that.

would the reaction have been the same if he said catholics are responsible for all the wars in the world?
i don't think it would be.
the catholic church is the whipping boy of the religious world and nobody seems to mind people casting aspersions upon catholicism.
it's a complete over reaction.

Diogenes

Rob Schneider in bid to ride coat tails of scandal for a shred of publicity.

Vulture

He was drunk and being arested by a cop for DUI, now how often have you seen or heard of normally nice people going off on the cops when thier hammered? I seen at least two people i know do it and news flash when they woke up in the morning they were not proud of it. Probally saw the cop had a jewish name and took the easy insult, if the cop had of been black mel would have been lynched by now, if the cop had girly hair gay comments would have been his choice. Hell I tried to started a fight with a friend of mine once when i was hammred, point being everyone is capable of anything with just the right amount of drink in them. When your hammered you will do and say things that you would never dream of doing sober. You just dont have the media around to rake us over the coals when we do it. So let he who is without drunken stupidity cast the first stone. (that includes starting drunken fights, insulting/hurting friends and complete strangers etc.)
Oh and by the way mel gibson is a hack before this happned and after it.

J.R.HARTLEY

i reckon deuces wuote is a wee bit tongue in cheek, he'd never be in the vacinity of a gibson film(and i don't consider his films starring and directed) to be masterpieces at all.