Mel Gibson's Problem Options

[danginja]

Gibson suffers industry backlash
Email Print Normal font Large font Gerard Wright, Los Angeles
August 2, 2006

HOLLYWOOD'S shunning of Mel Gibson has begun, with the ABC television network cancelling his proposed mini-series on the Holocaust.

The network gave no official reason for the cancellation of the mini-series, Flory: Survival in the Valley of Death, which was based on the unpublished memoir of a Dutch Jew.

But an entertainment news website, Deadline Hollywood Daily, quoting sources close to Gibson, said the string of anti-Semitic remarks he made during and after a drink-driving arrest last week, had prompted the ABC decision.

Beyond that, a Hollywood agent has made a public call for the entertainment community to turn its back on Gibson.

"Now we know the truth," said Ari Emanuel, a partner in the Endeavour talent agency. "And no amount of publicist-approved contrition can paper it over. 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."

Mr Emanuel's commentary appeared on the Huffington Post weblog.

Gibson, who in a statement of apology at the weekend admitted to battling alcoholism throughout his adult life, was admitted to a non-residential rehabilitation facility yesterday.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also released his official arrest photo.

An explanation, if not excuse for Gibson's actions, emerged with a report that he had been pulled over by police in Malibu twice before for speeding in the past three years.

According to the Hollywood entertainment news website TMZ.com, the first incident occurred on the Pacific Coast Highway, near Gibson's Malibu home. He allegedly was clocked at 130 km/h in a 90 km/h zone. Gibson was said to have avoided eye contact with the police officer, who suspected Gibson had been drinking but let him go.

The second incident is said to have occurred in the past 12 months, with Gibson clocked at 110 km/h on a 75 km/h stretch of the highway. The website claimed Gibson continued a conversation on his mobile phone for the duration of the stop, and then was allowed to keep driving.

The third time, now notorious, occurred at 2.36am last Friday, when Deputy James Mee pulled over an intoxicated Gibson to be met with a barrage of anti-Semitic epithets, all caught on tape.

Among them was the assertion that "the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world".

Los Angeles is home to the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre, whose founder, Rabbi Marvin Hier, said: "Look, the issue with Mel Gibson is very simple. Mel Gibson is driving under intoxication. There are no Jews in sight. He can blame his car, he can blame his liquor, he can blame the sheriff. But he can't blame any Jews because there are none around. That's precisely who he blames. Yet that's the problem. That shows he has a problem with Jews."

Did any of you see this coming? I was kind of in shock but yet it wasn't a surprise at all really after The Passion of The Christ. Discuss.