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News
Mel Gibson Meltdown Provokes Hollywood's Ire
by Jen Yamato | July 31, 2006
Discuss Article
Mel Gibson, no stranger to controversy, has done himself a doozy after a Friday morning DUI arrest allegedly spiraled into the anti-Semetic rant heard 'round Hollywood.

It all started in the early morning hours
on Friday, when LA County officers pulled Gibson over in Malibu for driving 87 mph in a 45 mph zone. A breath test verified that the Oscar-winner had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 percent, according to police.



Has Gibson put his "Apocalypto" in jeopardy?


When officers told him he would be taken to jail for drunk driving, the intoxicated Gibson launched into a tirade of explicit language. According to website TMZ.com, he also attempted to run back to his Lexus when asked to enter the police car, and was promptly caught and handcuffed.

In the police report (first reported by TMZ and then verified by the LA Times), the arresting officer claims that Gibson, once detained, launched into a threatening and expletive-filled tirade against the officer. In the officer's words, "Gibson almost continually [sic] threatened me saying he 'owns Malibu' and will spend all of his money to 'get even' with me."

Most damaging were Gibson's next rantings. From TMZ.com:

"F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"

Gibson spent the night in the drunk tank, where he allegedly continued to spew offensive remarks, threatened to urinate in his cell, and damaged a telephone.

An early report claimed that a complete police report, detailing Gibson's inflammatory remarks, was initially sanitized by officials in order to avoid inciting public backlash, in part because of the current situation in the Middle East as well as Gibson's previous anti-Semetic controversy stemming from 2004's "The Passion Of The Christ." An investigation into this potential cover-up has been launched to discover if Gibson was given preferential treatment.



Gibson sparked controversy before with 2004's "The Passion Of The Christ"


Unfortunately for him, word of Gibson's alcohol-fueled hijinks spread quickly over the weekend, leaving many in question of the increasingly iconoclast actor-director's future. In a town like Hollywood, it's not the alcohol abuse or the drunk driving that's the problem; while such vices are forgivable, many believe Gibson's incendiary anti-Semetic comments to be devastatingly reprehensible.

In her Risky Biz blog, Hollywood Reporter columnist Anne Thompson posted one of the first reports on Gibson's weekend antics and the huge obstacle ahead of him (as well as distributor Disney), as he releases his next ambitious pic, "Apocalypto," this December:
"Gibson will need to set the record straight and make things right as best he can. But considerable damage as been done."

Around the Tinseltown interweb, some are considerably harsher on Gibson. Blogging on The Huffington Post, agent-to-the-stars Ari Emanuel (the infamous inspiration for Jeremy Piven's character on "Entourage") rejects Gibson's post-arrest apology, and calls for an industry-wide boycott of Gibson:
"People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line.

There are times in history when standing up against bigotry and racism is more important than money."

Another telling opinion, from the AP:

""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.""

Related Items
Movie: The Passion of the Christ
Celeb: Mel Gibson
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Comments (1-20 of 45 posts) | Reply
Crenshaw
Crenshaw writes:
on Jul 31 2006 02:52 PM

[b]Good[/b]
I love when holier-than-thou blowhards are exposed as their true selves. Seems the louder someone shouts about the Bible, the more they need to read it.


(Reply to this)
Captain Shimmy
Captain Shimmy writes:
on Jul 31 2006 03:33 PM

Why is it that whenever a celebrity screws up, most people take his side, but if they say they're a Christian, everyone pounces? From all I've read, Mel Gibson has always admitted his mistakes and has never claimed to be holier-than-thou. From all I've seen, all he's ever said was how much he loves Jesus. Everyone says stupid things when they're drunk. That doesn't mean they believe it. Mel Gibson is only human. He deserves understanding just like everyone else.

(Reply to this)
killthemall4444
killthemall4444 writes:
on Jul 31 2006 04:09 PM

This is fucking hilarious.

(Reply to this)
RedRoostr
RedRoostr writes:
on Jul 31 2006 04:13 PM

Sure you can drink and drive, blatantly abuse drugs, fuck girls young enough to be your granddaughter, be and all around degenerate scumbag, but don't you DARE talk shit about the Jews. What a town!
Just another reason why LA needs a 10.0 to bury all these assholes.


(Reply to this)
RenaissanceBen
RenaissanceBen writes:
on Jul 31 2006 04:15 PM

Dude, on the Apocalypto poster, it totally should be: "No one can outrun his destiny."

Well, I'm done here. And I hope South Park has a field day with this one.


(Reply to this)
Horstradamus
Horstradamus writes:
on Jul 31 2006 04:18 PM

In reply to this comment (#841278)
[b]Oh really?[/b]
Generally alcohol takes off that little filter people have in their brains that protects them from showing people how really screwed up they are. No one shouts racists remarks when they're drunk if it's not in their brain already.

You can thank Gibson's dad for putting the crap in there in the first place, but I place full blame on Mel for failing to overcome it.

I really liked Mel Gibson. Now I'm not sure what to think... besides jackass.


(Reply to this)
warsaw
warsaw writes:
on Jul 31 2006 04:29 PM

he referred to a female cop as "sugar tits"


LMFAOOOOOO


(Reply to this)
Elixir
Elixir writes:
on Jul 31 2006 04:29 PM

wait a second here, i'm the first one to tell people to F off but man can you be any dumber? how is he gonna get drunk and say anything remotely referencing the jewish community, my god they are at war right now!!! thats the last thing anyone in the public light should do. he isn't a politician, he isn't in the army , for god sakes he's an actor/director IN HOLLYWOOD which is in AMERICA.

that is like going to cuba and cursing out the bearded one.

your butt would be on a table floating in the ocean


(Reply to this)
medicineman
medicineman writes:
on Jul 31 2006 05:13 PM

I am not religious, could really care less about Mel Gibson and I'm certainly not anti-Semitic, but this whole thing blows!. The Jewish community in Hollywood has always had it out for Gibson, and they've been gunning for him since The Passion. If there's any anti Semitism going on here, it's the Jewish community who's doing it, not Gibson. He apologised; so it's best for the Jewish community to accept it and move on or risk adding credence to his ‘misguided’ remarks.

(Reply to this)
SleazyReaper
SleazyReaper writes:
on Jul 31 2006 05:21 PM

It's funny how they are calling it a meltdown, he got drunk "possibly" said some stuff he shouldn't have, so what?

We all make mistakes, I think he has alot of damage control to do. But I don't think his career is going to be over with because of this incident.


(Reply to this)
Runawayrunaway!
Runawayrunaway! writes:
on Jul 31 2006 05:36 PM

In reply to this comment (#841287)
This whole thing is just glorious. All it took was a bit to drink to bring the crazy out in the bastard.

(Reply to this)
Now it's dark
Now it's dark writes:
on Jul 31 2006 06:00 PM

[b]Gibson's right[/b]
This is a case of Hollywood blaming the messenger. And anyone taking sides with him against Jewish run Tinseltown will get blacklisted too. He's become powerful enough that he can afford to speak the truth.


(Reply to this)
mofojoe85
mofojoe85 writes:
on Jul 31 2006 06:14 PM

He doesn't have to answer to anyone but God. He's admitted before that he had a drinking problem. No one is perfect and Mel Gibson has never claimed to be. Hollywood was just standing by waiting for him to mess up so they could cast the first stone. He's an outcast from Hollywood because he doesn't think like they do. In Hollywood it's just not cool to be Christian. Being a Christian is admitting that you're no better than anyone else. Look at Russel Crowe, Hugh Grant, or anyone else that made some mistakes (most while they were sober by the way) and Hollywood never once wished a boycott against them. He's apologized and all should be fine and well but the bottom line is that Hollywood never forgave Gibson for The Passion.

(Reply to this)
RawIsRamsey
RawIsRamsey writes:
on Jul 31 2006 06:53 PM

Gibson's a joke...hasn't done anything worthwhile since Braveheart anyway. Fuck 'em.

(Reply to this)
Indiana Jules
Indiana Jules writes:
on Jul 31 2006 07:56 PM

[b]Gibson really screwed up...[/b]
But plenty of people still work with Roman Polanski, and Hollywood and the Academy seem to love him. As a whole, Hollywood has no business "shunning" Gibson. He obviously has his share of problems, though. In this case, an apology for remarks made while drunk should be enough for most anyone. He didn't call for the destruction of Israel or anything - he just said some incredibly stupid things. "Sugar Tits" was also pretty crass. Funny, but crass.


(Reply to this)
Aqueryan Reloaded
Aqueryan Reloaded writes:
on Jul 31 2006 10:45 PM

In reply to this comment (#841288)
Um...all it takes is a bit to drink to bring the crazy out in most anyone.

To use religions language: "Let (s)he who is without sin cast the first stone."

To use secular language: Unless you're incapable of error, you should withhold casting judgment.


(Reply to this)
lavatory love machine
lavatory love machine writes:
on Jul 31 2006 11:01 PM

this is like a picture a tom cruise having sex with a guy or bush saying he invaded irak just for the oil

it's the confirmation of something that people already suspect


(Reply to this)
sr78
sr78 writes:
on Jul 31 2006 11:20 PM

Who will care about this but some special interest groups? Gibson's movies always draw full theaters, and that's all that matters ultimately in Hollywood. He'll issue an official apology, the movie will be set back a few weeks perhaps and that'll be that. Mel will be making movies for a loooooooooong time :)

(Reply to this)
Sadistik
Sadistik writes:
on Aug 01 2006 06:24 AM

the apologists here would be singing a different tune if what he said was about black people. I'm not religous in the least, so don't start slinging that. If he said "Niggers are the cause for crime in this country" or something similar you'd all be screaming for his head (and so would I), but with Jew comments the apologists give it a "meh" rating. Funny.

(Reply to this)
Tombstone Law Dog
Tombstone Law Dog writes:
on Aug 01 2006 07:18 AM

[b]In Vino..[/b]
Veritas.
For those who didn't-or should not have- passed highschool, it means 'In wine, truth.' People say what they reallly think when they're too drunk to apply that filter that usually keeps us out of the shitter.
Does this mean that Gibson is a closet anti-semite? Pretty much. Does this mean that he's finished in Hollywood? Probably not. Should we all hate and scorn him? Hey, people do what they want. I'm a Jew, and I'm not too horribly offended-- my respect for him just took a couple of hits, for the comment and the fact that a father of like a billion kids can't stay off the sauce when he's driving.


(Reply to this)
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