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I will always support Hollywood comebacks after an appropriate period of penance. But not everyone agrees with me, apparently. (And I’m Jewish, too.):
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I agree with Sam. Mel Gibson should never be allowed to work again. He is a hate monger and has been forever.
What Mel said and did was wrong period. His outburst was fueled by his wild demon intoxication. But, blackball him. Is this the McCarthy area. Come on people he who is without sin let him cast the first stone. Mel is talent filmmaker and a human being. To forgive is righteous.
Two impressions from this clip:
Did the newscasters sitting behind their desk look like pussies? Yes.
Is Mel Gibson a non-contrite anti-semite? Yes.
At least the interviewer admitted that in showing too much restraint and fumbling the “dog” remark, he felt like a pussy after the interview.
As for Gibson, he appears to be recanting his apologies by suggesting he never said anything, like it was a conspiracy against him.
He brought himself down, and as far as I am concerned people can kick dirt in his face as long as they want. You don’t get forgiven because time passes. You get forgiven because people believe you when you say you’re sorry. And he never was that good an actor.
Why assume that Mel is recanting his apology for the anti-Semitic remarks? He has unambiguously admitted to making the reported comment about Jews. What he denied, however, is that he called a female cop “sugart***.” Mel told Jimmy Kimmel that it was the arresting officer who said sugart***, not him.
If you’re offended then I recommend to go here: encyclopediadramatica.com and search “Holocaust” .. that’s some funny stuff!
> (And I’m Jewish, too.)
Funny, you don’t write Jewish.
Mel’s “comeback” is half financed with his own money. GK Films put up the other half, then WB acquired it for distribution. It’s also presold in a number of foreign territories, so everyone’s hedging their bets here.
Mel has been blacklisted and is STILL on the blacklist. Whether or not this movie makes any money may determine if he remains there.
Then again, it may not ever matter – especially in this town, and he may have to continue using his own funds to participate in Hollywood.
First of all the interviewer was rude to pose that question to Mel Gibson. Second of all in posing that question he should’ve had the courage to follow it up but didn’t. Third, it was very cowardly of the interviewer to gripe about it after that fact on the air without Mel Gibson present to defend himself.
Yes, I think everyone deserves a second chance. That is what our religion teaches us. I am very ashamed that so many of my fellow Jews are so quick to condemn a man for life. God bless Mel Gibson. I eagerly await his new movies.
You’re an idiot.
You’re an ass. Go back to the sewer.
The interviewer instigated a response to what should be a dead issue at this point, did not like the response and then didn’t have the guts to follow through … all too typical for these modern media types. This guy is a joke.
Give Mel a break. He was drunk. Everybody has done stupid things when there are drunk.
This is much to do about nothing. Whether he is or isn’t an anti-semite is really of no concern regarding whether he should be ‘allowed to work’. OF COURSE he should be allowed to work…he’s talented.
Don’t like him? Then don’t pay to see his movies. But, isn’t that being just as hateful as you accuse him of being?
We’re all human…haven’t met a perfect one among us yet, aside from Christ…I suppose if you’re perfect, then you’re ina position to judge Mel Gibson. I’m not.
Only a moron would say Gibson should be banned from anything.
He apologized.. period. Get over it.
He’s as talented a film maker/director as there is in the business.
Jeez, if all the morons who made stereotypical organized crime TV and film were banned for the HUGE insults that they made to Italian Americans, there would be no one left in Hollywood.
Ugh…Gibson, Zucker, and Mark McGwire should all go have a big circle jerk of denial together.
In the past Hollywood’s forgiven drug addiction, pedophilia, drunk driving, manslaughter, racism, and a host of other sins both mortal and venal. Will they forgive drunken anti-Semitic ranting?
That has yet to be seen.
Love it — the guy remembers he’s Jewish only after the fact…
Great reporting, Sam.
lol it’s the ultimate comeback made while taking a shit the next day…I SUDDENLY REALIZED I WAS OFFENDED
Mel is Mel…what he did (get drunk and hassle cops) wasn’t bad enough to blacklist him, he still makes interesting movies, so…SHUT YOUR FACE YOU FAT LOCAL NEWS LOSER
Exactly!!!!!
Sam… you have only served to clarify yourself as an idiot!
Pretty gutless to air his offence after the interview when Gibson wasn’t available to comment. Pretty sure Mel’s a big boy and could have dealt with a controversial question.
What’s even worse is the self-congratulatory back slaps from Sam’s colleagues. Way to go. Way to show him when he’s not around to give his side of the story.
Mel doesn’t owe this guy an apology. I was raised Catholic. If some a-hole went on an anti-Catholic tirade four years ago and I were to today demand an apology like Al Sharpton, I’d be slapped. Let Mel do his thing, and F the whiners
This is a great point: Mel’s black-listed for anti-Semitic ranting that he made while drunk.
So what’s the excuse for the almost constant anti-Christian tirades that come out of the (presumably) sober pens of the writers for any Law and Order show or any other show in need of a moral villain? They can’t look make a controversial or interesting story about the Muslim world because they’ll all get fired up and the protests will start and they could potentially be murdered if it goes too far; and they can’t go too far on making Jews look bad because then they’re “blacklisted.” But hey, Christians, WOO HOO!! It’s open season.
The real issue is how
Mel responded to Rubin’s questions,
not Rubin’s disagreement with your
belief in celebrity penance.
As I perceived the clip, it seems like Mel’s anti-Semitism
isn’t going away anytime soon.
Your logic is flawed. You are drawing a false conclusion. Based on the clip, not what Sam said after it was all said and done, there was NO anti-Semitism Mel Gibson’s response.
Nikki, I love your column. Keep it coming. I can’t stand Mel Gibson. The only way I would/could sit thru any of his movies is if I was on some psyco drug trip and my eyes were held open with some sort of mechanical tool. I know a little bit harsh. There is always room in Hollywood for the great come back story after many appologies for bad behavior. I just can’t accept his.
“Do you have a dog in this fight?”
Which is racist code for, “Are you a Jew?”
I applaud Sam Rubin’s restraint. I would’ve decked that vaginal catastrophe w/out blinking.
I’ll never give another dime to a lying, hypocritical philandering bigot like Gibson again.
I used to be a fan.
Not anymore.
ahaha give it a rest
you wouldn’t have decked anyone
you would’ve posted a strongly worded response on the Internet
you and chubby should write the sequel to Profiles in Courage
You people who hate Mel Gibson show yourselves up to be far worse than Mel Gibson, by your crazed frothing at the mouth hatred of him. You show no forgiveness. Get over it. Why is it considered worse to be critical of Jews than of Americans or British or Peruvians? So what if he said something offensive. Why is what he said worse than what his detractors say, and they have been heaping sh– on his head for the last 6 or 7 years, all the time. This whole thing is getting really old and the world is sick of hearing the same old thing.
What kind of a person judges a whole persons life by what he says on one occasion when he’s drunk. This over the top persecution doesn’t make any sense to a logical mind.
Ellen
The difference between Jews and Americans or British or Peruvians is that Judaism is not a nationality. IT’S A RELIGION! Not only is it a religion, but Jews have been persecuted throughout history and Mel Gibson’s comments perpetuated this.
If it was a one time thing it would be easier to forgive but since he denies that he even made the comments, why would anyone forgive him? Don’t you have to actually feel bad for your actions to be forgiven. You call everyone who hates him far worse than him? Who made the comments and won’t even admit that he did? Make an apology and then people could move on.
he could have said “Why is it considered worse to be critical of Jews than of Christians or any other religions?”
Now answer that!
Or can you explain to me why is it that we always hear about pedophile priests in the Jewish controlled media but never a pedophile rabbi? Or the constant Christian bashing in the H-wood films?
Now that I’ve dared to ask these questions, you can label me hypocrites.
There has always been controversy over this issue. The Jewish people make claim for Israel based on nationalism. You are considered Jewish if you are born to a Jewish mother, nationalism. You are not required to practice the Jewish faith to be considered Jewish. You can be converted but this is rare, difficult, and not encouraged. The case for nationalism is stronger than the case for religion.
amen.
The host had every right to be pissed…a few years ago, but for this interview he was just baiting Mel and it back-fired. Good for Mel.
I should has said this….translation…I wish I had balls
He’s now claiming he DIDN’T say those anti-semitic things?? It’s in the public record– the police officer wrote it down in his report. Gibson apologized (privately) then for saying those things. And, if there was any doubt about his feelings towards the Jewish people, all one really needs to do is watch “Passion of the Christ”, the most virulently anti-semitic movie of our time. He’s psychotic and scary, and still offensive– his demeanor and threatening gaze at his Jewish interviewer here, “You have a dog in this fight (Jew)?”
I’d say Hollywood is pretty forgiving of almost anything, anyone, any sickening prejudice, as long as it makes money.
Passion of the Christ? Anti-Semitic? Are you kidding me? THE HERO OF THE MOVIE IS JEWISH!?!?!??? Unless you are saying it made him look bad too (oh wait, let me think… Jesus did play his part from a point of weakness). R U KIDDING ME!???
Christianity has it’s basis in Judaism! All the bad guys are Jewish… all the good guys are Jewish. You sound like one of those idiot Christians mad at Jews for killing Jesus, ridiculous!
And as far as Mel goes. The man has apologized the thing to death. How long should he keep apologizing? He probably gets it EVERYWHERE he goes. Sometimes you just want to move on. The reporter antagonized him. He fired back. He OBVIOUSLY is going through some shit, the man couldn’t sit still in his chair. And then for you to be offended. Puh-lease. Get off your fucking high horse. No one is perfect, we all have our prejudices, and maybe if we try to bring the person into the fold and cut them some slack they are more apt to release some of those prejudices instead of being buoyed by them.
And by the way, “sugar-tits” could very well be the funniest shit I ever heard. He doesn’t get a pass cause it was funny. He was as wrong as the day was long, but THAT shit was funny.
From Mrs. Michael Richards, ladies & gentlemen.
The Catholic Church has actually deemed the version of the Passion play on which Gibson chose to base his film to be antisemitic. It is no longer widely performed because it goes out of its way to make the Jews villainous and Pilate absolved.
Then there was the stereotyped casting…
nope dude, the vatican, who collaboralty with the nazi dureing all WW2 and get milion of jews killed, tried repentence 20 years after the war had ended by supressing form the bibke one sentence said by a head rabbi, a Sanhedrin, to pilates, before the crucifixion of Christ, saying “his blood will be on our hands, and on our coming generation’s heads” and that was it.
because that sentence had been used by the catholic churnch during all the middle age to persecute jews.
So the vatican removed it to wash their hands of their nazistic collaborations, in one easy straw!
and its only to show off that they claimed the movie to be antisemite, why?
becasue they were sacred that Mel gibson was goign to show things they didnt want th epubic to see so they stole the script of the movie, and wanted Mel Gisbon to cxhange eveerything!
because they coudlnt found anythign problematic, they had only that sentence and clainmed that since they had reemoved it form the bible in 1968, so shopuld Mel Gisbon
the problem was the Mel gibson was making his movie in arameicvc based on arameic and greek text so that was out of question.
wso all oyu idiot pretendign to know better and saying th emovie was antisemite you dont know what yoa re tlakign about and oyu dont even know waht antisemite and antisemitism means!
you are so low!
Fronm a PHD in Religions history and atheist!
To say “Passion of The Christ” is Anti-Semitic is like saying that “Braveheart” was Anti-British. The movie was telling a story based on someones religious beliefs. If he believes that fairy tale to be true, then he is being correct in telling it that way. Was Clint Eastwood racist towards Japanese because he made “Flags of Our Fathers”? Was he Anti-American when he made “Letters From Iwo Jima”? No. Get over it people. It was a movie. You sound like the people who argue that “Avatar” is anti-american-military-government. These are fictional stories based in extreme circumstances. Otherwise the audience wouldn’t watch.
—He’s now claiming he DIDN’T say those anti-semitic things??—
No, but Mel has said that it was the cop, not him, who said sugart***. The allegation about the sexist remark wasn’t even in the police report, it was only from TMZ.
(PS, police officers don’t always tell the truth.)
Clearly the anger-management classes didn’t work.
Better answer Mel: (Take a breath first): “Clearly I wasn’t at my best that day. And I apologize for that. But I’m glad to have this chance to get back into the saddle as an actor. And I hope my fans are ready to move on.”
The “I’m-going-to-fucking-ram-that-note-card-down-your-throat-Sam” look only makes it easier for us to see the raving, drunken moron who got arrested that night and blamed all wars “on the Jews.”
I agree with TakeABreathMel. I love Mel as an artist and wish he had handled this question with more humanity.
I can’t wait for this movie. The guy has more gravitas and talent than anyone else working in Hollywood today. The Jewish community needs to get over itself on this one.
And the Nazis had some really, really cool hats. In fact, they were some of the coolest uniform hats I’ve ever seen. I suppose the Jewish community should get over the whole Holocaust thing as a result?
So a teenager who looks up his teacher’s skirt is morally equivalent to a serial rapist? Mel Gibson said some offensive things and apologized for them. He hasn’t dedicated his life to defaming the Jews like an anti-semite Fred Phelps (I outright refuse to call him a Reverend and I’m a fairly right wing heterosexual). Let alone planning the murder of Jews. Let alone attempting the extermination of a people.
I’ve always felt that the handling of the controversy around Passion of the Christ was absurd. A number of Jews publicly state that they want to conspire with other Jews to destroy a successful Catholic’s career because he made a movie about Jesus. If there was ever a misguided attempt to reduce anti-semitism, that’s it. It gives anti-semites ammunition for every “Jewish cabal” theory they have in stock and they get to link their nutty websites to the New York Times and CNN to gain false credibility.
You’re comparing a drunken rant to the Holocaust? Wow. Awesome sense of proportion.
The point is that a person with depraved, racist views should not be exonerated in light of something as superficial as acting talent. Similarly, one of the greatest evils of the past 100 years should not be absolved because they wore cool hats.
That is one of the dumbest things I have heard!!!!!!
I don’t think you should ever be exonerated for making such a moronic argument.
It’s awesome. Mel’s the best ever.
You should’ve completed your sentence, as in “Mel’s the best ever…in terms of angry anti-semite hypocrites who preach Catholic values while he’s out drinking, driving and cheating on his wife with younger women, then leaving her for another younger woman, all while portraying himself as a victim of a media (re: Jewish) conspiracy.”
At least Mel isn’t (publicly at least) an outright Holocaust denier like his looney old man, thought the apple obviously didn’t fall far from the tree.
Last Temptation had the romans who actually killed CHrist throwing slow motion coins at greedy hook nosed Jews. F him.
I think that Mel Gibson must be a very conflicted individual. I’m not sure he truly spoke his mind during the drunk arrest – people say lots of things when drunk, sometimes due to self-hatred. There’s also the issue of his relationship with his father, who is apparently really antisemitic, and the depiction of the Jews in The Passion of Christ, which might be antisemitic or just Hollywood conventional villainry (even if tastelessly applied to a group that’s been villified too often).
But all of this didn’t prevent Gibson to personally produce a documentary about the very Jewish Leonard Cohen, so there’s a real grey area and I don’t agree to people having their minds made up about such an issue. (And I’m Jewish too.)
He’s a great actor and director. Just happenes to be an anti-semite as well! It’s too bad because he’s in the wrong town to be that way!
Really? Is there a right town to be that way?
He’s just wrong to be that way.
Tehran is not a bad spot for that. Learn about the world.
Tehran? Try Texas, moron. Learn about the country we live in…first.
A local entertainment flack gets flummoxed by movie star? Snore… If he was so offended as a “Jew and a human” then why not refuse to do the interview? Refuse to give free advertising to the movie?
Because this interview was an opportunity to showboat and make the story all about himself.
He’s a great actor and director. Unfortunately he’s also an anti-semite in a town where you could be anything…but!
Did he actually say “what I didn’t necessarily say”?!? He’s actually refuting that he made anti-Semitic slurs?!?
Mel has denied saying sugart**s, not the anti-Semitic remarks.
Sam Rubin is, frankly, a pussy. Typical press person who waits until they have the mike and are away from the subject to vent about what he should have said. He had plenty of opportunity during that interview and was a chicken shit. I am a fan of Mel’s, but believe that he should be challenged if he has done somethig wrong, Rubin you suck.
Wanna have some fun? Call him Mo Gibstein. Then sit back and watch the fireworks.
Yeah, this falls in the same category as ‘there were no terrorist attacks under Bush’…
“Do you have a dog in this race?”
The guy is a fucking racist.
Every time I start considering forgetting that fact, he turns around and shows his true colors.
Sorry, Mr. Gibson. I was a fan, but I can’t keep ignoring your behaviour. I will not be paying to see any of your films ever again.
Wow! Mel pretending even for a beat that he doesn’t know what the reporter is referring to shows he’d prefer to feign ignorance over being a real man and dismissing the comments head on with, “I’ve paid the price for my drunken tirade, made apologies where I believe they were due, taken time to rethink and re-educate myself about many things, and now, 6 years later, I am hoping that my being all-too-human doesn’t cloud people’s willingness to watch me as an actor.”
That would have been the man-thing to do. Asking if this reporter “had a dog in this fight,” was a disturbing way of. essentially, asking him if he was Jewish. For any Jew would abhor him for his exclamations… And the spirit with which he does this too is revealing still…
Upsetting.
I have seen every Mel-film and, as a Jew that despises him for his ignorance (but understands it as top-down daddy-indoctrination from childhood up, reinforced by his looking for it throughout his life), will see EDGE… and judge it on the merits of it being a film. The fact that it stars a racist will, I hope, not predetermine how I feel about it.