Mel Gibson's father says Holocaust exaggerated

AFP ^ | Feb 19, 2004 | AP

[Aetius]

Thursday February 19, 04:05 AM

Mel Gibson's father says Holocaust exaggerated

One week before the US release of Mel Gibson's controversial movie, "The Passion of the Christ," the filmmaker's father has publicly reiterated claims that the Holocaust was exaggerated.

Hutton Gibson's comments, made in a telephone interview with New York radio talk show host Steve Feuerstein, come at an awkward time for the actor-director who has been trying to deflect criticism from Jewish groups that his film might inflame anti-Semitic sentiment.

In his interview on WSNR radio's "Speak Your Piece", to be broadcast Monday, Hutton Gibson, argued that many European Jews counted as death camp victims of the Nazi regime had in fact fled to countries like Australia and the United States.

"It's all -- maybe not all fiction -- but most of it is," he said, adding that the gas chambers and crematoria at camps like Auschwitz would not have been capable of exterminating so many people.

"Do you know what it takes to get rid of a dead body? To cremate it?" he said. "It takes a liter of petrol and 20 minutes. Now, six million of them? They (the Germans) did not have the gas to do it. That's why they lost the war."

Gibson's father had made similar claims in remarks published in a New York Times article in March last year.

In a television interview with Diane Sawyer that was broadcast Monday on the ABC network, Mel Gibson accused the Times of taking advantage of his father, and he warned Sawyer against broaching the subject again.

"He's my father. Gotta leave it alone Diane. Gotta leave it alone," Gibson said, while offering his own perspective on the Holocaust.

"Do I believe that there were concentration camps where defenseless and innocent Jews died cruelly under the Nazi regime? Of course I do; absolutely," he said. "It was an atrocity of monumental proportion."

During his lengthy radio interview, Hutton Gibson, 85, said Jews were out to create "one world religion and one world government" and outlined a conspiracy theory involving Jewish bankers, the US Federal Reserve and the Vatican, among others.

"The Passion," which gets its US release on February 25, purports to be a faithful and graphic account of Christ's last 12 hours on earth.

Jewish leaders who have attended advance screenings have voiced concerns that its portrayal of the Jews' role in Christ's execution could stir up anti-Semitic feeling.

Gibson's father indicated that the controversy had largely benefitted the film, in terms of generating publicity.

"Mel says he absolutely couldn't buy PR like this," he said.

[Aetius]

I saw this Steve Feuerstein on MSNBC today, and he really is an asshole. It seemed as though he could barely contain his joy at having some news that could possibly hurt Mel Gibson and his movie, 'The Passion of the Christ.'

He said that its fair to hold Mel Gibson accountable for his father's admittedly loony beliefs. Let me repeat that; he said its fair to hold Mel Gibson accountable for his father's comments and beliefs. He said this is so because 'The Passion' only exists because of his father. This of couse ignores completely that Mel Gibson said the movie arose out of his own spiritual rebirth after having reached the point of considering suicide over a decade ago.

Steve Feuerstein also said something akin to Gibson's faith somehow not allowing for people outside it to be good, or something like that. This ignores completely Mel Gibson saying that he doesn't feel that only followers of his religion can get into heaven, but that he does feel he will have an easier path. That doesn't sound like the extremist image Feuerstein painted.

Steve Feuerstein's major talking-point phrase appears to be that Mel Gibson grew up in a family defined by a 'Patriarch of Hate.'

Steve Feuerstein also brought up Mel Gibson's angry response to the far-left Frank Rich of the NYT after he called Gibson a 'Jew-baiter' for defending his movie against attacks that Rich claimed hadn't been made yet. This completely ignored two things: 1. Gibson backed away from his angry remarks during the Diane Sawyer interview and even said with regards to Rich 'God Bless Him.' 2. Attacks had been made. There actually had been a reporter trying to dig up dirt on the Gibsons while Mel was filming the movie.

Now let me say that I don't agree with Hutton Gibson's comments. They sound crazy and insulting to me, but to go after Mel Gibson by means of guilt by association seems unfair. Mel Gibson's position is a tough one. If I had a family member saying crazy things I wouldn't like it, but at the same time I wouldn't want to publicly condemn him. Blood is thicker than water. So I can understand him not openly criticizing his father even though it would make life easier for him with his critics. But Mel Gibson has publicly stated a belief in the historical accuracy of 6 million Jews dying in the Holocaust, so he has openly disagreed with his father.

But if anyone gets the chance to see this Steve Feuerstein you'll probably notice the barely concealed joy of having a hammer by which to hit Mel Gibson over the head. The way he demands that Mel Gibson account for his father's views is not only annoying, but also arrogant.

[sonsofliberty2000]

Well my father is a drunk, drug user and was a wife beater, but I can't and won't be held responsible for his actions. Same thing applies here.

---

Patriot Paradox

[Poundstone]

I hear where you're coming from, but, sorry, your prescription isn't enough. Mel Gibson can't just "disassociate" himself from his dad's obviously insane and deeply wounding remarks. He has to specifically say his father is dead wrong -- and also urge his dad to shut up.

Nothing else will do. Not just to satisfy the PC police types out there, but to satisfy the vast majority of ordinary people who are outraged by Hutton Gibson's remarks.

[Judith Anne]

That's YOUR opinion, newbie. As far as I'm concerned, Mel Gibson doesn't have to explain or apologize for his father to me. Tell me why you think he owes YOU anything.

[Poundstone]

Calm down and think about it for a little bit. If you don't come to the conclusion that Hutton Gibson's remarks are of such a nature as to require a more forceful rebuttal from Mel, then you're understanding of what's right and wrong is seriously out of kilter.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

I heard an excerpt of what Mel's father said on the radio. He made no sense at all - he was barely coherent - it sounds like he might be senile. Has anyone brought up that possibility?

If that's the case, is there a delicate way that Mel can disassociate himself from the ravings of his father, without dishonoring him?

People are taking his father seriously, as if he knows what he's talking about. I hope he consults with somebody who can tell him how to handle this (perhaps a doctor or a psychiatrist).

His father reflects badly on Mel. That's the downside of all of this. Mel's in the public eye, not his father - yet his father is casting a weird shadow over him. Ordinarily, we never know about the parents of movie stars. Yet, in this case, Mel's father has inserted himself into his son's life, because of his extreme views, and because of his calls into radio programs. Mel's in a very difficult situation.

[Poundstone]

You're quite right, Pointy, quite right.

[Poundstone]

Read the post immediately above yours (#6). The poster puts it even better than I did. He's exactly right on target.

[cyborg]

PMSNBC was just bought out by Clintonoid so maybe this explains it!

[Judith Anne]

Do I seem slightly annoyed? Well, perhaps. There have only been about a thousand (not even a slight exaggeration, I assure you) posts right here on FR about Mel Gibson and his father. Have you read none of them? They've been on the board daily for weeks.

Never mind. I'll leave you to the others. Good night.

[Barbie Doll]

And how many times this article has to be posted?

[Captainpaintball]

He was on local (Philadelphia) radio where I live, and he is a condescending, viscious prick of the highest order. He was orgasmic with glee with these accusations. I've never seen such joy from a 'reporter' before regarding a story...

Why would he be so happy about this?

The ironic thing is that this slimy, little, used douche is the one who will stir up anti-Semitic feelings among some people, rather than Gibson. But as long as the feelings are stirred up, that's fine with him, it seems.

[Poundstone]

Good night? It's mid-afternoon where I am!

Anyway, those "many hundreds" of previous posts don't seem to have let you see the light. I urge you to take a deep breath and ponder this a little more deeply, as the poster in #6 did.

Good luck!

[Seeing More Clearly Now]

He can love his father, but should definitely and unequivocally renounce his father's vile lies. This would be the same as the kind of proper relationship parents should have with kids: "I love you, but I do not love and will not accept behavior on your part which harms others and I will stop you from perpetrating false accusations and hatred against innocents." Given the ages of Gibson junior and senior, the generation role reversal is already operative; Mel should take over as parent to this vile old man, a father with whom only an adult child should have to put up. The amount of primary source documentation of the Holocaust against the Jews is staggering and unequivocal. The combination of this son's passion play, a genre which has brought violence and death to millions of Jews, and the father's passion against the Jews is a lethal combination over which the enemies of the Jews everywhere must be rejoicing. This movie will be a block buster, but, whose block will get busted in the process?

[dmzTahoe]

Let the math speak for itself.

To arrive at 6 million deaths, there would have to be 3288 victims every day for 5 straight years.
OR
1.2Million per year for 5 years
OR
100,000 per month for 5 straight years.

Possible? Probable? Decide for yourself. No doubt any number of victims is horrific, inexcusable and a sad testament to man's inhumanity to man. Will the true number ever be known by anyone?

And not to forget, starting in 1915, One and a half million Armenians were killed by the Turks, out of a total of two and a half million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

[Judith Anne]

Those hundreds of previous posts didn't agree with you, nor do I, as I said.

Now, if you must post to me and have the last word for some reason only you can ascertain, please do. I have said mine.

[Finalapproach29er]

The Christian haters are getting despicable.

First a trip to the Vatican yesterday, now a guilt-by- association smear.

[Finalapproach29er]

People are taking his father seriously, as if he knows what he's talking about..............

WHO?

The guy is a nobody. He's being given a platform to smear MEL and discredit the film. The Christian hater who put mel on the air should be asked why he's putting an 85 year-old nobody on the air.

[Seeing More Clearly Now]

You seem to doubt the staggering numbers. Yes, they are mammoth, more than the mind can wrap itself around, and yes they are true. Have you ever heard eye the eye witness accounts or read or seen the photos of the mass executions where thousands of Jews at a time would be taken to dig their own mass graves and would then be exucuted with bullets, or if they didn't want to "waste bullets," the Jews were buried alive en massse in multiple layers one on top of the other and then the entire pile-up covered with earth so that they smothered; the earth would continue to move sometimes for hours until the surfact movement and sounds ceased. Are you not aware of the wiping out of all or close to all of entire Jewish populations in thousands of sets of towns in multiple countries on a daily basis for years? The geographical scope of these operations was huge. Do you know about the mobile killing units, where gas extermination was brought to cities, towns and villages as an adjunct method to other mass murder methods? Are you aware of scores and hundreds being locked into buildings which were set ablaze? Entire families were killed. If you think that the genocide all took place in concentration camps and relied upon the non-stop crematoria and gas chambers (where millions were killed), you've got a lot of catching up to do on this history.