Posted on 07/29/2006 1:28:31 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
Lt. Steve Smith, in charge of the detective bureau for the Malibu/Lost Hills station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, confirmed to me just now that "the contents seem to be similar" between the official reports and the four pages posted by TMZ.com on the Internet alleging Mel Gibson made anti-Semitic slurs -- "fucking Jews" and "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world" and asking the arresting deputy "Are you a Jew?" -- during his DUI arrest early Friday morning. Smith denied TMZ.com's charge that the sheriff's department was involved in a "cover-up" of Gibson's alleged anti-Semitic tirade detailed in deputy Jim Mee's first arrest report. "TMZ has learned that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department had the initial report doctored to keep the real story under wraps," the website claims. But Smith told me emphatically, "There's no whitewash. I've seen the first report, and the supplemental report, and it looks to be the same thing as what's on the Internet. The contents that are on the Internet are covered in both those reports." That is the first official confirmation from the Sheriff's station that Gibson's alleged anti-Semitic rants are included in the official reports about his DUI arrest.
Lt. Smith told me that it is the station's normal procedure not to release the arrest report until it's submitted to the District Attorney's office for possible action. Also, according to porocedure, Deputy Mee's report, he said, was reviewed by the filing detective "to see if there's maybe corrections or additions or elements of the crime that should have been included, or just additional information that wasn't known at the time of the report. And then a supplementary report is generated because that's the proper way to add information to the first report. In this case, the original report had a lot of this nuance in it: how Mr. Gibson was conducting himself and behaving. Traditionally, in a drunk-driving arrest, or any type of arrest, the deputy wants to paint a picture of what he's dealing with at the time. And, the reason for that is it helps the detective or the D.A. to put the contact into some sort of context. The other purpose for describing the context is that it assists the deputy in remembering the incident when the court case can be four, or six, or eight months down the road."
As soon as TMZ's Internet pages surfaced about Gibson's alleged anti-Semitic slurs, Hollywood's entertainment leaders began phoning one another asking if could possibly be true. (Already this morning, I personally spoke with several prominent players wanting to know more.) Now, with my confirmation from Lt. Smith that those pages are similar to the official Sheriff's reports, showbiz moguls are certain to be shocked and angry. Still, to be fair, whether any person should be held responsible for what may have been allegedly under-the-influence ramblings is certainly debatable. But Gibson is a special case because his worldwide mega-hit The Passion of the Christ was criticized by some Jewish leaders as anti-Semitic, and Gibson's father, a local religious leader, has said that the Holocaust did not happen. Hutton Gibson in statements has decried the Holocaust as "fiction" and claimed there were more Jews in Europe after World War II than before. The younger Gibson, however, has repeatedly denied his movie was anti-Semitic. But the actor/director's views about his father's Holocaust denial have been under scrutiny. When asked by an interviewer in early 2004 whether the Holocaust happened, the actor / director / producer responded that some of his best friends ''have numbers on their arms,'' then added: ''Yes, of course. Atrocities happened. War is horrible. The Second World War killed tens of millions of people. Some of them were Jews in concentration camps.'' But in the same interview, Gibson said his father, Hutton Gibson, had ''never lied to me in his life,'' and Holocaust scholars have cited those and other statements as evidence that he has failed to disassociate himself clearly from his father's views. Perhaps to counter that, Gibson late last year announced he was developing a nonfiction mini-series about the Holocaust for ABC. His TV production company will base the four-hour miniseries for ABC on the self-published memoir of Flory A. Van Beek, a Dutch Jew whose gentile neighbors hid her from the Nazis but who lost several relatives in concentration camps. Gibson was not expected to act in the mini-series, nor was it certain that his name, rather than his company's, will be publicly attached to the final product, according to The New York Times. But Quinn Taylor, ABC's senior vice president for movies for television, told the paper at the time that the attention-getting value of having Gibson attached to a Holocaust project was a factor. ''Controversy's publicity, and vice versa,'' Taylor was quoted as saying. Now it remains to be seen whether the contents of these LA County Sheriff's Department arrest reports will make Gibson's Holocaust project too hot to handle for the network.
ABC's parent company, Disney is distributing Gibson's latest Hollywood movie project, Apocalypto, through its Buena Vista Pictures Distribution arm. The action epic set before the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Central America about the bloody decline of the ancient Mayan civilization (filmed in their language) wrapped production earlier this year and planned for a Dec. 8 opening. In his most recent act of controversy, Gibson recently compared the fearmongering and human sacrifice of the Mayans to President George W. Bush's political actions. Previously, the Bush administration, Christian religious leaders, and conservative politicos had embraced Gibson for making The Passion of the Christ despite the overwhelmingly negative response to the film inside Jewish circles.
Hollywood, especially its Jewish moguls, has simultaneously rejected and embraced Gibson before, during and after Passion. Right before the movie was released, several top Hollywood Jewish executives saw an anti-Semitic subtext in the religious movie and pledged privately never to work with Gibson because of it. But once Passion became a surprise hit at the box office, and rang up humongous theatrical grosses worldwide , much of the heated criticism of Gibson began to cool inside Hollywood circles. And, in some quarters, the actor / director / producer began to be hailed as a genius for tapping into the zeitgest of those spiritual moviegoers often ignored by Hollywood moviemakers.
Given today's confirmation by the Sheriff's Office that Gibson's alleged anti-Semitic tirade is in his DUI arrest reports, the debate will rage anew in Hollywood and Jewish circles about Gibson's true feelings about Jews. The actor / director / producer works closely with many Jewish VIPs in the entertainment business at talent agencies, in law firms, and at the studios. Of course, we haven't heard from Gibson himself yet. But there can be no doubt this official confirmation is very, very damaging to his career.
There is something seriously wrong with Gibson's mind. He is obviously sick. You can tell by recent pictures of him. He looks deranged. I never say "Passion." I don't know if it had an anti-Jewish undertone, and I don't care, but this certainly reinforces the claim that it did.
"say" = "saw"
So what does this have to do with his arrest? This wouldn't be "newsworthy" if he were Joe Schmoe off the street.
Hollyweird is already anti-semitic, so now that Mel has publicly declared his veiws on the subject for all to hear, there will be unspoken approval in Gollywood ...
He is an anti-semite like his father, as I suspected, and I voiced that suspician here.
> This is a big deal?
When a hyper-Catholic like Mel Gibson (allegedly :) is DUI, resists arrest and spouts out anti-Semetic obscenities, yes.
Of course we haven't heard his side of the story yet. His career will get over it. Is he smart enough to make sure there will never be a strike two?
This is not a big deal, but American Jews should take note that the Democrat Party is filled with leftist, liberal Jew haters who would destroy Israel and themselves in a heartbeat. It is absolutely amazing that American Jews support the Democrat Party in the numbers they do. Must have a death wish, I guess. Some Democrat Jew haters: Pete Stark, Jim Moran, Nancy Pelosi, Jim Moran, Jim McDermott, Cynthia McKinney, Barbara Lee, John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, William Jefferson, etc., etc. There are many, many more including many Jews themselves. Idiots!!! Maybe after the "Seattle" shooting incident, American Jews will realize they are not as safe as they think. Let them vote the Democrat Party into power, and shortly it will become open season on American and Jews all over the world.
He made the Bush=hating remarks already, so this is just his coming out as a member of the Holywood mainstream.
Yep. Even Mel Gibson can't get away with this. He can make his own movies, but for how long? Very few people have enough money to bankroll films themselves.
I'd a been totally cool if the remarks were about mexicans.
Not likely. "Drunken anti-semite" will stick to him like glue.
Already been done. ....but it's far from over, I assure you.
Mel Gibson issued a lengthy statement Saturday apologizing for his drunk driving arrest and saying he has battled alcoholism throughout his life.
Gibson also apologized for what he said were "despicable" statements he made to the deputies who arrested him early Friday morning on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
"I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested," he said in a statement issued by his publicist. "I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse."
Publicist Alan Nierob declined to elaborate beyond the statement.
Gibson, 50, was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol after deputies stopped his 2006 Lexus LS 430 for speeding. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said deputies clocked him doing 87 mph in a 45 mph zone.
A breath test indicated Gibson's blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, Whitmore said. The legal limit in California is 0.08 percent.
The actor was released early Friday after posting $5,000 bail.
They gave Hillary a pass on her FJB tirade. But they won't forgive Mel.
Alcohol is truth serum, what Mel said under the influence is what he really thinks, the alcohol just removed the inhibitions that kept him from saying them.
No argument here.
He will appear on TV a few times and apologize in high-profile interviews.
His box office receipts will probably climb even more as a result.
Mel Gibson's father is a Holocaust denier, and has been on the record about that for years. It doesn't surprise me one bit if the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Look at Cynthia McKinney are her JOOOOOOWS-hating father.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.