By EMILY BURACK<\/p>\n
Mel Gibson is anti-Semitic. This isn\u2019t just a guess, it\u2019s actual fact based on things Gibson has said. He\u2019s also a misogynist, racist, homophobe and all around (seemingly) terrible person. Yet he\u2019s still working in Hollywood. Why?!<\/p>\n
In case you think I\u2019m overreacting, let\u2019s take a walk through Mel Gibson\u2019s past.<\/p>\n
In 2006, when Gibson was being arrested for driving under the influence, he said, \u201cF***ing Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.\u201d (You can read the TMZ report, which published Gibson\u2019s arrest report.) A few years earlier, Gibson had doubted that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, telling an interviewer, \u201cI mean when the war was over they said it was 12 million. Then it was six. Now it\u2019s four. I mean it\u2019s that kind of numbers game.\u201d Yeah, sure, OK, the Holocaust is a numbers game!? (His dad, for what it\u2019s worth, is a noted Holocaust denier.) He also called Jewish actress Winona Ryder an \u201coven dodger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gibson\u2019s 2004 movie \u201cThe Passion of the Christ\u201d was deeply anti-Semitic, telling the story of the last 12 hours of Jesus\u2019 life. When asked if it would upset \u201cany Jewish people\u201d (interviewer\u2019s words, not mine), Gibson replied, \u201c\u2018It may. It\u2019s not meant to. I think it\u2019s meant to just tell the truth \u2026 Anybody who transgresses has to look at their own part or look at their own culpability.\u201d Love the trope of Jews-killed-Jesus casually dropped into interviews! (A great read on the anti-Semitism of the movie can be found in The Nation: \u201cThe Protocols of Mel Gibson.\u201d)<\/p>\n
In 2010, Mel Gibson\u2019s then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, with whom he has a child, covertly taped a call between them. Gibson tells her, \u201cYou look like a f***ing bitch in heat. And if you get raped by a pack of n****s it will be your fault. Alright? Because you provoked it. You are provocatively dressed all the time with your fake boobs that you feel you have to show off. I don\u2019t like it. I don\u2019t want that woman. I don\u2019t want you. I don\u2019t trust you. I don\u2019t love you.\u201d (If you have the stomach for it, the racist and graphic audio is here.) While this was happening, he was being investigated for charges of domestic violence.<\/p>\n
And it goes back deeper than the 2000s (no surprise there). In 1991, Gibson mocked gay men in an interview with El Pais, and when GLAAD called on him to apologize, he said, \u201cI\u2019ll apologize when hell freezes over. They can f*** off.\u201d In 1995, he told Playboy that he doesn\u2019t believe men and women are equal.
\nBut there was brief hope. In 2010, after the Grigorieva call leaked, it seemed like Gibson\u2019s career was over.<\/p>\n
But then it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Robert Downey Jr. tried to get Marvel to hire Gibson to direct \u201cIron Man 3.\u201d Shane Black, a filmmaker who eventually got the \u201cIron Man 3\u201d gig, told Uproxx in 2016, \u201cMel\u2019s been really nice to a lot of people, including me. I\u2019ll go on record saying I don\u2019t believe anyone should be held accountable in any way for something they say while they are drunk. It\u2019s not who they are. I know this because I\u2019ve said horrible things to people and made them feel bad. And it wasn\u2019t who I was, I was just drunk. Mel\u2019s a great guy and I understand his new directing project is actually quite interesting. So, whatever. If you say something sober it\u2019s one thing. If you\u2019re drunk, you\u2019re going to deliberately be belligerent just to piss people off.\u201d Yeah, sure, let\u2019s brush off abuse and racism and anti-Semitism because he was just drunk!<\/p>\n
In 2016, Gibson directed \u201cHacksaw Ridge,\u201d which garnered six Oscar nominations (including one for Gibson). That same year, he did an interview with Variety, in which Gibson said he had apologized for his behavior. \u201cBut others bring it up, which kind of I find annoying because I don\u2019t understand why after 10 years it\u2019s any kind of issue. Surely if I was really what they say I was, some kind of hater, there\u2019d be evidence of actions somewhere. There never has been.\u201d<\/p>\n
News flash: There\u2019s lots of evidence! Let us just direct you to his WikiQuote page, which is just filled with terrible things (and one apology). Or this Gawker piece, \u201cAll the Terrible Things Mel Gibson Has Said on the Record.\u201d
\nAnd regarding that \u201cJews are responsible for all the wars\u201d quote?<\/p>\n
\u201cI was loaded and angry and arrested,\u201d he said. \u201cI was recorded illegally by an unscrupulous police officer who was never prosecuted for that crime. And then it was made public by him for profit, and by members of \u2014 we\u2019ll call it the press. So, not fair. I guess as who I am, I\u2019m not allowed to have a nervous breakdown, ever.\u201d Yeah, well, it doesn\u2019t seem like you regret it, Mel Gibson.<\/p>\n
Where does that leave us? We are in the midst of a so-called \u201ccancel culture\u201d and have seen movements like #MeToo take down prominent men in Hollywood (and rightfully so). Yet Mel Gibson is still working. And getting roles. And making movies. And getting Oscar nominations for those movies.<\/p>\n
It was announced recently that Gibson would star in two new projects: \u201cRothchild,\u201d seemingly about the wealthy Jewish banking family that is at the heart of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories \u2014 don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll get into this hot mess in a bit \u2014 and \u201cFat Man,\u201d a dark Christmas film.<\/p>\n
Twitter has some thoughts (as do I).<\/p>\n
First, regarding the Christmas film, Seth Rogen put it best:<\/p>\n
\nHo-ho-holocaust denier. https:\/\/t.co\/CkkougtqgY<\/a><\/p>\n
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) May 9, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n