Mel Gibson, Jew hater

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 8:32 PM on July 29, 2006.

Mel Gibson, director of Jesus gore-fest The Passion of the Christ, was pulled over for drunk driving early Friday morning, launching almost immediately into a Jew-hating tirade of, well, biblical proportions.

"F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"

In addition he threatened to...

fuck the officer several times, snapped at a female officer, "What do you think you're looking at, sugar tits?", bragged that he "owns Malibu" and that he "will spend all of his money to 'get even' with me," according to Deputy James Mee's report.

The original report that is, since the L.A. Sheriff's office had him remove all the yucky stuff because, as Mee was told by higher-ups, "Gibson's comments would incite a lot of 'Jewish hatred,' [and] that the situation in Israel was 'way too inflammatory.'"

Right. Sure. People just hear Jew hatred and rush from the dinner table for a little pogrom. Consider the nation's intelligence insulted and the LA Sheriff's office bought and paid for.

Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood spoke with the sheriff's office, which denies the cover-up, but early reports have the sheriff's spokesman claiming that Gibson was arrested "without incident" so it's highly unlikely that he just happened to have messed up, that Mee just happens to have claimed that he was told to write another report and that other officers (as stated above) gave excuses for the report.

But back to Gibson. The man who shipped an 8-lane bowling alley to his private island that he intends to leave as pristine as he found it; who donated "$5 million of his The Passion of the Christ profits to expanding a religious compound near Malibu for Catholics who reject Vatican II reforms [the reforms that finally, officially, stated that Jews were not culpable for the death of Christ]."

Count among these Vatican II rejectionists Gibson's father Hutton, a Holocaust denier and friend to powerful antisemites like Willis Carto of The Barnes Review.

As Dave Neiwert notes, "Hutton Gibson was an important influence in [Mel's] beliefs, and he remains so. Moreover, Mel Gibson has never at any time actually distanced himself from his father's beliefs nor repudiated them."

And I'm not sure when it happened but the good Republicans trying to get Gibson to challenge Schwarzenegger for governor of California have clearly abandoned their push as the domain gibsonforgovernor.com seems to be available. Just in case anybody's interested.

If Gibson publicly apologizes for everything he said on Friday, goes on record opposing his father's beliefs, and absolutely and unequivocally states that he does not believe that the Jews are responsible for Jesus' death, he will be taking a good first step away from his flirtation with the fascist right. He won't do this of course as he sincerely holds these beliefs and will not renounce them -- The Passion fell suspiciously in line with the beliefs of those who reject the Vatican II reforms.

Plus, he likes the compound near Malibu, something he gets to keep as someone who typically has the savvy to say just enough to allow daft reporters to connect no dots.

And it allows weak-willed hypocrites like popular right wing blog Little Green Footballs to keep their heads in the ground, cheerleading the most militaristic Israeli actions while giving Gibson a free pass because they're more or less on the same team promoting American empire and Muslim hating -- two great tastes that... you know.

The first thing Gibson reportedly said after being stopped was, "My life is f****d."

At least we agree on something.

UPDATE: Gibson did release a statement and, as expected, glossed over the Jew comments (all the specifics in fact) and just denounced them all as "despicable" while blaming the whole thing on his alcoholism. You know what? Not good enough. You make comments like these after that movie and purchasing a compound for Holocaust-deniers, one of whom is your father whom you've never publicly disagreed with and you want people to accept this apology?

Try again Mel.

Here's the statement in full:

"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, and I apologize to anyone who I have offended. 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."

Bonus Proof that the Media is not run by the Jews: AP, USA Today, and CNN missed the story as of late Saturday night.

In their TV segment, CNN doesn't even mention the antisemitic slurs, while the written version mentions that TMZ.com "alleges" that there were slurs. This is some darned crappy reporting. The TMZ site actually posts PDFs of the original arrest report and commentary from the freaking office on why they hid the original arrest report. Is there some reason why they were reluctant to report on all this?

To paraphrase Mr. Gibson: CNN, your reporting is f***ed!

AP and USA Today just miss it entirely.

(TMZ, Orcinus; HT: DownWithTyranny)

Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.