He was an alcoholic at the time, Mel Gibson. During an arrest, he freaked out… went on a bizarre rant about how “the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world!” and this got Mr. Gibson cancelled from Hollywood for several years.
And this kind of makes sense because there’s a LOT of Jewish people in Hollywood. As Brando once controversially remarked: “It’s run by Jews!” And that’s true… Now Polanski did something far more heinous than merely making a bigoted remark in a drunk state — he actually took advantage a 13 year old child while she was intoxicated. But people can ignore a crime committed long ago, far away from them. They cannot, however, be around someone who may actually be bigoted against THEM. That’s personal.
Above is a photograph of Mel and his father, Hutton Gibson, at Hutton’s 100th birthday celebration a few years ago. Hutton was a Jeopardy! grand champion in 1968. He was also a writer, and a well-known Holocaust denier. So growing up as one of the eleven children of a literal Holocaust denier, Gibson was probably subject to hearing the worst of the worst in terms of racist abuse and crackpot theories. It’s a miracle he came out relatively normal, capable of forming professional friendships in the business. One of his best friends who he has struggled together with while suffering the effects of addiction, is Robert Downey jr., a Jewish man himself.
Personally, I’m a fan of Mel Gibson’s work. I think he’s a fine actor, and an even better director of movies. His Apocalypto is probably one of my all-time favorite movies. I wonder if his father’s hateful view of a world young Mel was dying to explore drove him to alcoholism? For years he was in this strange limbo where he was the primary caregiver of an aging father who couldn’t shut up about hating “the Jews”, all the while being, himself, employed by an industry full of Jewish people…
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