NYT/AP: Hollywood Split Over Mel Gibson's Future

[DeepModem Mom]

Hollywood Split Over Mel Gibson's Future
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 30, 2006

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A stunned Hollywood debated the future of one of its biggest stars Sunday as a sheriff's watchdog launched an investigation into a possible cover up of a leaked report that quoted Mel Gibson unleashing a tirade of anti-Semitic remarks during a drunken driving arrest.

One media expert said Gibson irreparably damaged his career with his ''crazy'' behavior following his arrest by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies in Malibu early Friday. Charges of anti-Semitism were also leveled against the actor-director with the release of his 2004 blockbuster ''The Passion of the Christ.''

''It's a nuclear disaster for him,'' said publicist Michael Levine, who has represented Michael Jackson and Charlton Heston, among others. ''I don't see how he can restore himself.''...

***

The Office of Independent Review, a department watchdog panel, has opened an investigation into whether authorities gave Gibson preferential treatment by covering up his alleged inflammatory comments, said its chief attorney, Mike Gennaco....

***

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called Gibson's apology ''unremorseful and insufficient.''...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Gibson-Remarks.html

[niyad]

1. and his fans probably don't care in the least. .

[k_jerome]

3. whens Lethal Weapon 5 coming out? nt.

[Cleita]

2. I'm not really following this that much, but why am I

beginning to smell witch hunt here?

[Cleita]

8. He was driving 87MPH?

I hate to tell you how many times I drove that same stretch of road as fast if not faster. Got tickets too and had to go to driving school, but I wasn't drinking. It's just not that unusual to drive that fast on the Pacific Coast Hwy through Malibu, especially late at night when the road is fairly clear and honestly everyone driving at that time is going pretty fast.

About his language, well actors aren't painted saints, and at least he apologized. Many don't. Having lived in Southern California, I have known actors, famous and unknown. I don't expect much in the way of heroism from these celebrities and I don't consider them role models.

Give it a rest. The day Mel Gibson tries to run for public office like governor or president, then I will get worried about his peccadilloes and I will be the first to plaster them all over DU.

[madmusic]

13. Agreed. Who cares?

It's only drunken words. What about our Governor?

[Cleita]

15. How about our President and his drunken antics in foreign

countries?

[Baselinereality]

16. Well...People Love a Good Scandal Now & Then.

This is much more exciting than the Nick Nolte thing, if you ask me.

[idgiehkt]

17. I WILL NEVER GIVE THIS A REST.

I will shout this from the rooftops.

BURN THE WITCH.

St. Mel finally showed his true colors, and I will never let ANYONE forget this.

Take that to the bank.

[madmusic]

31. How come? Sounds personal. n/t

[Cleita]

35. Just to put this in perspective, there are two Hollywood

celebrities wandering around free who may have killed their wives but because they could afford good lawyers are walking around free, although civil suits filed against them have found them guilty. There is a famous rock star who is probably a child molester but because he could afford good lawyers is living in another foreign country that doesn't have laws about that.

Mel said some awful things, and he said them under the influence of alcohol, if he said those things at all. The testimony is from the cop not Mel or another witness from what I have read. I've seen worse things said about immigrants and hispanics to me right here on DU, yet I haven't received any apologies. At least Mel did apologize.

[Gatchaman]

4. All he has to do is another Mad Max or Lethal Weapon

and all will be right with the world.

[Baselinereality]

5. His Written Apology Sounded Pretty Remorseful To Me.

Whether or not he believes it is another story.

I remember when I got pulled over for my DUI, back in 1994, (on Good Friday, no less! Trust me--there wasn't anything good about it), I called the breathalyzer cop a "Nazi." So--I call 'em Nazis when I'm high as a kite and Mel worries about them being Jewish. Slightly different take on the world.

If it means Mel never getting to make another movie in an ancient language, I say blackball 'im.

[Codeine]

9. Why would you call a police officer

a Nazi when you were the one driving drunk and endangering people?

[Baselinereality]

14. Well, I Think The Answers In The Question.

Also, I'm a lesbian and they were making fun of my girlfriend, who was passed out at the time, (I'm telling you, kids, stay away from the Goldschlager), and it made me mad. Plus, they were kinda staking out the lesbian bar that we emerged from, looking to arrest one of us dirty li'l people.

And then they made my girlfriend walk home through a very dangerous neighborhood.

And then I'm a perfectionist and I hate being told I'm doing anything wrong, so I really didn't like being pulled over, which was my first time.

But, yeah, mainly it was because I was blotto.

I take it you don't drink.

[idgiehkt]

18. alot of cops are nazis.

at least down here in the south. They might as well be.

That's not too much of a stretch for many of them.

[Baselinereality]

22. Yeah, well...I'd Like To Think I've Mellowed in the Past 13 Years...

But I'd probably be the same butt-hole if they pulled me over today.

I'm living in Charlotte, North Carolina now. I hope they're not as bad. (I got arrested back in '94 in Norfolk, Virginia.)

[Codeine]

37. LOL

>But, yeah, mainly it was because I was blotto.

That's a damned good answer! :)

[Bucky]

12. I know you're being sarcastic about "blackball 'im". Censorship is THEIRS

I may not like Gibson's world view, but I absolutely hate black listing artists.

But I agree with your assessment. He said close to everything he should have said. I still find the sudden revelation of "struggling with alcoholism" a tad convenient. His stress on the phrase "disease of alcoholism" seems a bit self serving. He didn't (and this was probably a smart thing) come right out and say "antisemitism is evil and in my particular case was delusional and paranoic." But overall he covered his bases and didn't mince words.

Anyway, I think Gibson has pissed off people for a little while and, being Hollywood, they'll all forgive him the next time he makes a blockbuster.

[Baselinereality]

19. Yeah, His Response Was Very Convenient...

[idgiehkt]

21. was he drunk when he made "The Passion"?

probably not.

It cracks me up because the fundies always go on and on and on about how 'The Jews control Hollywood'. Please God, for once let the fundies be right. Let's send Gibson back under the opus dei, holocaust denier rock from whence he came. I'd like to see him ostracized to the degree that O.J. Simpson is, since he's got as much or less to contribute to Hollywood as O.J. does.

[Baselinereality]

24. It's Hard Out There For a Repug?

It's gotta eat at your soul, being an artist while being a Republican.

[Kahuna]

25. I'm sure it sounded remorseful. He's acn "actor," afterall.

:shrug:

[Baselinereality]

27. Good Point! But, This Was a Written Response So...

I actually think that what he's got is a good publicist!

[Kahuna]

40. Publicist! Riiiight!

:thumbsup:

[hlthe2b]

28. I've not been a GIbson fan for years... but, like many here...

I am intensely aware of the ridiculous comments that flow from one's mouth when alcohol mixes with anger. I don't believe I've ever said anything remotely anti-semitic, racist, or sexist, but I sure as heck know I've said things that I wish I could take back in years gone by--said only to hurt someone that I was mad at--under the influence of alcohol. I rarely drink now and haven't for years, but my college days taught me quite a few lessons. Are there really people on this board who have never experienced making regretful comments under the influence?


Gibson may indeed be anti-semitic. I certainly think he is a bit of an ass. Clearly, he's going to learn the hard way about loose lips, alcohol, drinking and driving, and the need for some anger management. But, if he truly is anti-semitic, I'd think there would be legions of stories about his behavior on that score--bias in hiring, if nothing else. This is Hollywood, after all... Not a place known for squelching gossip...Whatever :shrug:

[Baselinereality]

30. You Had Me All The Way Up To "Not a Place Known For Squelching"

Hollywood is so good at squelching that it took until Tom Cruise to fire his longtime publicist before America figured out how nutty he was.

Hollywood is so good at squelching that Arnold Schwarzenegger now has a career in politics even after many woman alleged that he groped them and much worse.

Hollywood is so good at squelching that it wasn't until shortly before he died of AIDS that it became common knowledge that Rock Hudson was gay.

Hollywood is so good at squelching that people actually believe that Lindsay Lohan recently suffered from heat exhaustion!

Hollywood loves to squelch.

The more I think about it, though, the more that I doubt this will ruin Mel. He's never claimed to have a perfect off-screen personality, and he's a "man's man." Work hard, play hard...and I'm sure that his anti-semitic comments will eventually be explained away as due to alcohol and stress and such.

I find his stereotypical "I own this town and I will destroy you" comment hilarious, though. I wonder if he's gonna?

[hlthe2b]

38. correction.... sometimes fails to squelch...

Those with the most $$ and clout clearly can find a way to squelch.

Hollywood will protect those they choose to protect, clearly....

[sweetheart]

6. stay out of malibu lebowski

The malibu police shoot people for traffic crime, mel gibson is innocent, give him a crown of thornes.

Let him act the part of road warrior, where a selfish asshole who's abandoned women and civility comes
in from the cold and helps women and a community survive, raising his nobility from the tattered shit
he is in the films beginning, how a hollow man's heart saves the world, and how mel gibson should
bleed on this cross.

[knowbody0]

7. IMHO, he's completely off his nut

and i'll never understand the violence and acceptance of, the Passion of the Christ.

[City Lights]

10. I won't have an impact on his future in Hollywood.

He's been on my boycott list for years already. :evilgrin:

[Clark2008]

11. I'm certainly NOT going to defend anyone's drunk driving, but

the anti-Defamation League?

Sheesch. They would find my very Jewish husband anti-Semitic after the torrent of anti-Lukid party tirade my husband went on this morning after hearing about Qana and the handicapped children bombed.

They're a BIT much, you know?

[idgiehkt]

23. not in this case they aren't.

read what he said.

[Clark2008]

41. I read what someone said he said.

I don't trust the media.

Sorry.

[hlthe2b]

26. I find great irony in your comments, Clark2008 as I've noticed

the anti-semitic charge being launched against quite a few Jews who take issue with the current Israeli (and US) government neocon-driven policies. I wonder if those launching the accusations know that they are Jewish...:shrug:

[Neshanic]

20. "The King Of Malibu" New sitcom on the WB

Mistaken for Charles Manson after a prison escape, Mel is put in the slammer as Charlie takes over Mel's fabulous movie star life. Hilarity ensues when a more stable Charles Manson posing as Mel begins to make good movies, gives all his money away, and tells the freeper facist's that love his gory Jesus/bloodfest to fuck off.

Meanwhile in prison, Mel makes due and finds love in the strangest places.

[TheCowsCameHome]

29. I know nothing about Gibson. What's his political leaning?

I don't follow any of that Hollywood stuff.

[readmoreoften]

32. Right wing, Opus Dei, Anti-Choice Fundie Nutball Extraordinaire /nt

[TheCowsCameHome]

34. I'm glad I never had any interest in his movies. Now I have even less.

I do remember the RW extremists whooping it up over the "Passion" but Hollywood stuff as a whole doesn't interest me.

[tlsmith1963]

33. I Used to Like Mel

But I haven't liked him since he became a nutty fundie. How far he has fallen.

Tammy

[Cleita]

36. Again to put it in perspective, I don't like that aspect of him

either, however, a certain Governor of California and ex-movie star had a reputation of being a sexual molester. Some of the women even filed a sexual harrassment suit against him and they were "discouraged" and withdrew the suits. I know people who have worked with Mel and there aren't any women I know who he has sexually harassed or even been bad temepered with and these are attractive women.

[WoodrowFan]

39. Mel is anti-Semitic?

Mel is anti-Semitic? Huh, When I pointed out how much anti-Semiticism appeared to be in "Passion" I was flamed up one side and down the other for suggesting he was anti-Semitic. how about that...


(thanks for posting DMM, I missed this story)