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Mel culpa: Gibson sorry after tirade [including "anti-Semitic remarks"]
The Age (AU) ^ | 31JUL06 | Gerard Wright

Posted on 07/30/2006 5:13:24 PM PDT by familyop

MEL Gibson was speeding, drunk and absolutely certain of how this episode would end when he was pulled over and arrested by a police officer in Malibu.

Gibson, 50, told Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy James Mee he "owned" Malibu as he was driven, handcuffed, to the Los Hills sheriff's station early on Friday morning, and he would "get even" with him.

"I'm going to f--- you," Gibson reportedly said.

"You're going to regret you ever did this to me."

What followed will cast a shadow over the remainder of the American-born, Australian-raised Gibson's career as one of Hollywood's most admired and bankable actors, directors and producers.

Mee's official arrest report, partially released on the entertainment news website TMZ.com, and confirmed by an industry reporter and The Washington Post, described Gibson as "blurting out a barrage of anti-Semitic remarks".

These included references to "f------ Jews" and "The Jews are responsible for all the war in the world", before asking the deputy: "Are you a Jew?"

According to the TMZ site, the deputy made an audio recording of the incident from the time Gibson's 2006 Lexus was pulled over for driving at 139 km/h in a 70 km/h zone on the Pacific Coast Highway in the affluent Los Angeles beachside suburb at 2.36am.

The gravity of his situation quickly struck Gibson, according to Deputy Mee. "My life is f-----," he said, after being told he was being arrested.

Gibson subsequently returned a blood alcohol reading of .12. The legal limit in California is .08.

"I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse," Gibson said yesterday.

In his statement of apology, Gibson said he regretted saying "things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable". However, the actor did not directly address the anti-Semitic remarks he was heard to have uttered.

Reaction to Gibson's arrest has been muted. The story did not break until Friday afternoon. TMZ posted its copy of the deputy's report on its website later that evening.

At risk is Gibson's ambivalent relationship with the Jewish lobby, quietly powerful in the film and television industry and in American politics.

Many in the Jewish community were outraged at the anti-Semitic message they claimed was implicit in Gibson's 2004 bloody blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, which he directed and funded with $US25 million from his personal fortune.

At a time the star's father, Hutton Gibson, denied the Holocaust in a radio interview, describing it as "maybe not all fiction, but most of it is".

The success of the film, with its international return of $US611 million, marked Gibson, a conservative Catholic, as a powerful political and cultural force.

In Australia, the executive director of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, Colin Rubenstein, said Gibson had a history of anti-Semitic behaviour, citing as an example the The Passion of the Christ. "The episode, regrettably, is not a surprise," Dr Rubenstein said.

Gibson's success and influence hid what the actor yesterday acknowledged had become a losing battle with alcoholism. He had previously been arrested for driving under the influence while filming in Canada in 1984. At that point he returned to his farm near Yackandandah, in north-eastern Victoria, for two years to dry out, before resuming his film career in the US.

Deputy Mee said he found in the Lexus a bottle of Cazardores tequila in a brown paper bag "within easy reach" of Gibson while he had been driving. It was three-quarters full.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: antisemitic; catholic; driving; drunk; duplicate; gibson; mel; passion; play; search; seenit; speeding
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To: Integrityrocks

"I don't believe for a second that he was "speaking his real thoughts" while at a .12 bac."

Oh come off it. .12 is not enough alcohol to cause hallucinations in any way. And everyone who has ever drunk alcohol knows that it loosens the inhibitions, and you say stuff that later you regret. Nice attempt to cover for Mel's bad behavior and words.


101 posted on 07/30/2006 7:14:40 PM PDT by flaglady47
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To: flaglady47

"The acorn here, hasn't fallen far from the tree"

It never does, does it?

This is why I give him the benefit of the doubt. We'll see where he goes from here.


102 posted on 07/30/2006 7:15:03 PM PDT by Praxeus
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To: SE Mom

Here's a related piece that I posted.

Gibson outburst 'was covered up' [Police coverup of antisemitic comments.]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1674846/posts


103 posted on 07/30/2006 7:15:31 PM PDT by familyop ("Either you're with us, or you're with the terrorists." --President Bush)
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To: familyop
He hasn't given any apology for his neo-Nazi comments.

Good grief, knock off the hyperbole. You are making it difficult for anyone to dicuss this incident with any rationality. So far you've posted from the Age, the Scotsman and a few other lefty foreign sites. Come on man, stick to one thread.

104 posted on 07/30/2006 7:20:13 PM PDT by Jean S
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To: Praxeus

"This is why I give him the benefit of the doubt. We'll see where he goes from here."

I'm a bit confused here. You give him the benefit of the doubt for believing as his father does? For being, apparently, anti-semitic?


105 posted on 07/30/2006 7:26:27 PM PDT by flaglady47
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To: JeanS

Hate to tell you.. but saying "Jews caused all the wars" is worse than neo-Nazi. It is original Nazi. Right out of Mein Kampf.

I don't know what's in Mel Gibson's heart, but his mouth has caused this firestorm, and all the outrage is warranted, IMO.


106 posted on 07/30/2006 7:27:36 PM PDT by Praxeus
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To: JeanS

"So far you've posted from the Age, the Scotsman and a few other lefty foreign sites. Come on man, stick to one thread."

Why don't you cut it out. This "incident" has been published in most major newspapers, including the Washington Times. Take the blinders off. And stop covering for Gibson and his bad acts.


107 posted on 07/30/2006 7:28:29 PM PDT by flaglady47
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To: flaglady47

No, I agree. I think Mel Gibson has probably got a lot of strange stuff in his brain from his father, who is a classic extremist on just about everything, I gather. He took the family to Australia because he didn't want his son to be in the army, and still seems to hate the US. And his father is also a Holocaust-denier.

Still, it seems to me that Mel Gibson must have managed to moderate the influence of whatever his father taught him, for some years, at least, or he could never even have functioned. But between his anti-Semitic statements, his recent ravings about George Bush and his ugly behavior with the police, I really think he may be having some kind of personality melt-down. Plus he looks quite bizarre.


108 posted on 07/30/2006 7:29:32 PM PDT by livius
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To: Praxeus
This is B.S. There is no proof that he said that. Think about it, if you were pulled over for DUI would you start spouting off like that? There is no other allegation of him ever saying anything like this before.

I can't believe all the people here who WANT to believe this without any proof.

109 posted on 07/30/2006 7:33:11 PM PDT by Jean S
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To: flaglady47
No..

I give him the benefit of a doubt because he has a strike against him from the get go.. that is, he was propagandized by his father. Any move to have a right world view means he had to move past this FIRST. He was already behind the eight ball because of pop.

Any right thinking would have to come by effort, not by nature of how he was raised.
110 posted on 07/30/2006 7:34:07 PM PDT by Praxeus
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To: livius

"Plus he looks quite bizarre."

I concur. I think he's frying his brain cells with too much booze, and I think he is battling with himself and his own beliefs. It's a case of cognitive dissonance. He knows his prejudices are without basis, but that was how he was taught all his life. And now he does battle with himself over what he knows is right and wrong, but because of all of the irrational garbage he was fed as a child, has screwed him up royally. That's my psychological take on Mel's behavior.


111 posted on 07/30/2006 7:34:30 PM PDT by flaglady47
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To: JeanS

Your taking liberties saying I "WANT" to believe Mel said these things. That's simply untrue.

These allegations are coming from several sources, and Mel is certainly not denying them.


112 posted on 07/30/2006 7:36:46 PM PDT by Praxeus
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To: JeanS
These included references to 'f------ Jews' and 'The Jews are responsible for all the war in the world', before asking the deputy: 'Are you a Jew?'"

It's his "hyperbole"--not mine. Have fun with your rhetoric.
113 posted on 07/30/2006 7:37:10 PM PDT by familyop ("Either you're with us, or you're with the terrorists." --President Bush)
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To: flaglady47
I concur. I think he's frying his brain cells with too much booze, and I think he is battling with himself and his own beliefs. It's a case of cognitive dissonance. He knows his prejudices are without basis, but that was how he was taught all his life. And now he does battle with himself over what he knows is right and wrong, but because of all of the irrational garbage he was fed as a child, has screwed him up royally. That's my psychological take on Mel's behavior.

I'm speechless.

114 posted on 07/30/2006 7:37:27 PM PDT by Jean S
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To: flaglady47

Well.. I think you are spot on here.


115 posted on 07/30/2006 7:38:18 PM PDT by Praxeus
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To: familyop
I don't know whether he made those comments or not, you are convinced he did. I don't know why you're taking one man's word that he did but since you've already prejudged this I don't think there is any way we can discuss this.

Witch hunts are ugly.

116 posted on 07/30/2006 7:42:28 PM PDT by Jean S
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To: JeanS

"I'm speechless."

Good.


117 posted on 07/30/2006 7:45:14 PM PDT by flaglady47
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To: Reddy
You couldn't be more wrong. I have a parent that was an alcoholic, I was married for 16 years to an alcoholic and I battle the bottle myself. You may know scripture, but I know alcohol. You say outrageous things that you don't mean and often don't remember. I'll not make excuses for Gibson, but I won't judge him yet either. If I see evidence that this is an ongoing hatred, then I will condemn him.
118 posted on 07/30/2006 8:06:34 PM PDT by BruceysMom (I'm hot & not in a good way: menopause ain't for sissies)
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To: familyop

Has the media apologized to Israel for always bashing them as well?


119 posted on 07/30/2006 8:09:10 PM PDT by ladyinred (The NYTimes, hang 'em high!)
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To: AmishDude

Good post.


120 posted on 07/30/2006 8:16:09 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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