Posted on 08/01/2006 8:14:03 AM PDT by monkapotamus
MEL SAYS SORRY TO THE JEWS
Tue Aug 01 2006 11:10:45 ET
August 2, 2006 -- There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.
I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.
The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.
I’m not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.
I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.
This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It’s about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.
END
Nice try, Mel. You publicist wrote one helluva piece.
Okay, now I'm gonna cry. That takes a very big person.
OK Mel, scoot your bare bum over broken glass while saying...I Suck...I Suck..., then we'll talk money!
Let's see if his actions match his words. That will be the real litmus test.
God bless you, Mel! I'm praying for you.
Leftist losers in Hollywierd will still hate you, Mel.
Note to people in the public eye. This is the proper way to state an apology. I'm so sick of non-apology apologies that say "I'm sorry if anyone was offended by...".
wow....
I've always kind of thought that when you get loaded and spout off at the mouth, your deepest thoughts tend to come out.
Things you really believe, but don't say when sober, because you know it's just not right.
George Wallace did it. Mel Gibson can do it.
An apology is a start, but let's get down to brass tacks. What would it take?
A large donation to MDA (Jewish red cross)?
Apology to Bush and support of the US stance in the middle east?
Other thoughts?
The story of Larry Trapp, who didn't just say horrible things but actually did horrible things, might be enlightening for some of Gibson's critics.
They came from your daddy. You're going to have to deal with your daddy, Mel.
He did lie to you, after all.
How about we start with unconditional forgiveness?
There sure must be a lot of drunks running around this world!
John 3:16- God loves the person, not the sin!
My father always told me that you're more of a man when you can admit that you're wrong.
Jews only accept apologies from liberals like Jesse Jackson.
Sorry, Mel.
Let he who has never said something colossally stupid in public cast the first stone.
I am Jewish, but this story is gettting old . .. Let's leave it alone.
I never liked Mel Gibson's movies to begin with, but if others do . . .
Glad he isn't making that miniseries on the Holocaust.... How many movies and series do we need?
Man, you got that right! As if it's the offended parties fault for not understanding.
Why should an apology necessiate a monetary donation?
That's what I think too.
One step he could take might be to acknowledge that John Paul II was Pope, that Benedict XVI is Pope and that the Catechism promulgated by the former, including paragraphs 63 and 839, is authentic Catholic teaching.
I am also cynical about this extremely well written apology. But, if Mel Gibson follows through on his words then it will be good for him. His PR firm must be in panic, damage control mode right now. This entire incident has been a distraction from what is going on in Seattle and the Middle East.
If Mel had signed the letter with his own blood, some people would be asking for a DNA to prove it was him...
sw
Will he make his dad meet with Jewish leaders too?
OK Mel, a lot of people have gotten drunk and screwed up. Takes a fair about of character to step up and SAY sorry. But the real proof will be in how you follow this up. My guess it will be extreme one way or the other. Either you'll do what you say and try to get right, or within a year you'll do something similar. Good luck.
What do his movies have to do with any of this?
Thanks for your words of wisdom throughout this.
Hezbollah is killing innocent Jews by launching deadly missiles into residential areas aimed at woman and children. Mel Gibson is called Jews nasty and dirty names. Guess which crime the medis thinks is worthy of the most air time and condemnation?
It seems to me that the media thinks that killing Jews is just fine.. It is calling them names that can't be tolerated. Oh and Seatle is leaning toward not charging their Jew killer with a hate crime. The law in the State of Washington says you are allowed to hate Jews as long as you kill them on private property.
We do that - it's called Yom Kippur.
Say, if Mel supported a holocaust awareness campaign, that might help.
Gibson said his father never lied to him, and his father is an avowed anti-semite and Holocaust denier.
And, I'm being kind. If his views didn't come from his father, he's got bigger problems.
OK, but there's no way he should get back the right to do the Holocaust miniseries for Disney.
Would anyone care about this episode if Mel Gibson weren't a huge movie star?
I'm sorry, but there is no way that you can say these things, drunk or not, unless you really believe it at some level. I can state with all honesty that there is no way, no matter how wasted I may be, that I could go on a tirade like this about Jews, Blacks, Hispanics or any other group. Simply because I don't have those thoughts, period.
What is it with you? It doesn't matter if his publicist wrote it or Gibson wrote it. It went out over his name? He owned up to what he did. He apologized. What do you want him to do, commit ritual suicide?
BTW, Did the Commodities Scam Queen ever get raked over the coals for her "F'ing Jew B#@%ard" comment? Did she ever apologize? (My recollection is continued denial.)
ML/NJ
Whether he likes it or not, he gave a lot of free press to the Jew haters of this world. A financial donation to those in a position to heal seems a good fit for restitution.
Jesse Jackson apologized?
Who wrote this for him?
The sickest thing is I can almost picture him doing that, in his Lethal Weapon character.
Don't you just love getting spiritual instruction from a Faux-frocked Friar?
At this point it's all about the money. To the extent that this damages his box office appeal, it's going to cost him big time.
Mel Gibson will say anything to try to keep his movie career in tact.
It would be refreshing for him to say that he really doesn't like Jews very much and that's that.
He also needs to be careful which Jewish leaders he meets with.
Probably not, but the content of his movies or if people like them or otherwise, has nothing to do with this story.
The story is big because of WHO he is, not whether people like his work...savvy?
May God not use the same measure on you that you use on others to dispense mercy and forgiveness.
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