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.
If you want to know more about that, BTW, I can dig some references here.
"My life is f**ked;only if I had said 'jews are responsible for all wars' could it be any worse ".
Many things can be twisted and spun by leaving out a word or two.
Don't get me wrong...I was not making an excuse for him...just reporting what I read.
The apology I read goes like this.
After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed.I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs.
The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person.
I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable.
I am deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior.
They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself.
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.
I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health.
There's a tad of specificity regarding the LEOs.
Personally I think he should have addressed them by name.
He acknowledged his alcoholism. A good thing, both at AA and publicly. But not an excuse.
Digracing his family, acknowledged specifically, a good thing.
The multiple *uck the Jews, the Jews cause all the wars (similar to the comment of a murderer 12 hours later, unfortunately) comments, addressed in the general things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable comment I suppose.
If the Father considers that an apology for his antisemitic views, that's fine.
Foxman and Donahue and Mel's supporters can fight it out.
I've defended him before, reluctantly, I think he's a Jewhater now.
My mind will be changed only by future actions.
And yes, "restitution" , the wrong word but what can we use, is very difficult, and very personal in a situation where damage isn't clear in the coin of the realm.
I know. My guess you or I would consider his stay in the "jungle" a vacation. Me, I'd bring my wife, though she doesn't like the jungle and would only come a week at a time.
I've posted a thread or two about tours to South America than concentrate on the hallucinogenic "healing" available there.
Maybe that's what's going on :>)
Dear SJackson,
"If the Father considers that an apology for his antisemitic views, that's fine."
From a Catholic perspective, this part makes the priest's conclusions reasonable:
"I am deeply ashamed of everything I said."
It's a categorical. Everything includes, well, everything.
sitetest
That's a great idea for Mel..."it was those magic mushrooms that made me hate the joos."
I am not talking about movies that in my opinion reflect jews in a crass and unbecoming way,movies that would certainly offend any believing,orthodox Jew,who abides by the Torah. Those movies are make to brainwash society and portray man as a nihilistic,hedonistic,libidinous animal that could be happy if only they free themselves from the constraints of religion and a moral,ethical code of behavior. Many of these movies are make by men who call themselves jews but may not be.
In my mind,there are Jews and there are jews. Maybe this will force a discussion on what or who is a Jew? I bet there are a large number of people who would be surprised at what or who others mean when talking about J/jews. We often forget to define our terms when we get into this type of discussion.
I think he's a jerk, you're forward looking which is fine.
I wish him the best in dealing with his demons.
As a media personality, there's no reason we should be discussing him on a political forum in the future, but I'm sure we we will.
Munich, anti-Israel, a complete fabrication, made by a couple of Jews, one of whom doesn't much like Israel.
Yeah, but I can't find the thread, which means I might never have posted the article. I have to go look. Psychedelic tours, a great business opportunity.
I'm never eating Mr. and Mrs. Tenorman chili again.
I believe it said that there was a case of mistaken identity but the movie made the victim into the type of person that would elicit audience sympathy that wasn't merited. Was there more?
I suppose Abe Foxman never forgave hillary either./sarc
I am amazed at the selected outrage here. Those who resent Mel Gibson making the Passion in the first place, are coming out with glee to now condemn him as if they really care.
The whole episode makes me sick. His remarks were awful, but I doubt no one more than he regrets them. This righteous indignation coming out, however is quite interesting to watch, especially when most of them support HRC without hesitation and she said the same damn thing.
Spare me!!
"A consciously rejected belief system when sober may in fact percolate itself into an angry paranoid screed from a relapsing long time drunk."
I don't know where you got that information, but please post related links.
You said yourself that alcohol lowers inhibitions. That means you will say what you think, not what you don't believe or reject.
I'm not a chronic alcoholic, but have been around enough of them to know.
I believe anyone will reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings when drunk.
Why DO so many (non-muslims) hate Jews so much?
Well, duh.
(It's worth noting that some of the strongest reactions are from FReepers who defended Gibson and attacked Foxman previously. Nobody likes to find out that they've been a sucker, especially if the suckerhood is public and undeniable.)
A large part of it is that various cultural factors (Jewish traditional reverence for education, and in earlier times restrictions against landowning by Jews) have tended to create a successful Jewish middle class. This naturally made them the targets of envy.
In particular, Christendom used to proscribe the lending of money at interest (as the Muslim world still does, though they come up with various work-arounds to achieve a similar result). This left the field open to Jews, which was a double-edged sword -- they made money, but in a way that aggrivated the envy of those who were in debt to them and created a temptation to stir up pogroms as a way of liquidating the debt by eliminating the creditor.
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