Using Gibson as Political Football

I condemn what Mel Gibson revealed the other night. The guy has serious drinking problems and will need to work out his demons. He needs to be more forthright about what he said and what he really believes—or does not believe. He has way more serious apologizing to do. And even that may not be enough. There are many people in Hollywood who feel strongly that he should be censured, ostracized or punished for his behavior. But now is not the time for political commentators like Arianna Huffington to take advantage of Gibson's media spotlight to use his sloppy, ugly ranting to agitate and fan today's political flames.

ADD: The NYT's follow-up story for Tuesday's paper focuses on how fast the story broke, and how unusual it was for the LAT to send squadrons of reporters after the story over the weekend. The NYT is basically playing catch-up, in other words. And as David Poland points out, the public lashing led by Barbara Walters on TV's The View was not good for Mel.

Comments

[KissingMercury]

I think Mel get what he deserves. Wasn't it not too long ago he was claiming who was going to hell including his WIFE! Isn't It amazing how karma turns around to bite thee in thee ass!!!! Maybe now, he should learn NOT to condemn people but to be a true spiritual person. No one know more than that. SHUT UP MEL. Be true to thy self and the ones we love. You have no more business than that to condemn! Have fun in rehab.....

[T. H. Ung]

I never thought I’d be saying this, but something in Star Magazine is giving me pause -- about Mel. Lee Hannon is quoting Chris Prentiss, co-founder of Passages, as saying this about alcoholism and Mel:

“There are only four causes and it is one or more of those four causes that are causing him to be out of control. First, everyone who is using alcohol excessively has a chemical imbalance. The second is events of the past that we can not cope with like the loss of a loved one or it could be guilt. We may have done something years ago that we can't forgive ourselves for. The third one is current conditions we can't cope with like failing marriage or business of (sic: or) lack of respect. The last thing is things we believe that are not true. And in Mel's case I know one of them. He believes he has the disease of alcoholism which probably prevents from (sic: strike the first from) him from looking for the real reason why he drinks and alcoholism is not a disease. That is the current thinking today. Alcoholism is a symptom and we treat the underlining causes.”

It’s the fourth cause, that last one, that keeps catching me: the last thing is, we believe things we believe are not true.

What do we believe, and what do we believe about what we believe?

Consider also, this. Up until three and a half months ago, Touchstone thought Apocalypto would come out this Friday. On April 15, 2006, Jeffrey Wells (who has himself created a Mel firestorm on his website) reported: “Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (Touchstone), an ancient-history metaphor piece about a civilization destroying itself, has abandoned its August 4 release date and will now open on December 8. So either Gibson and Disney distributors have decided Apocalypto has year-end awards potential, or they didn't like the idea of opening in the same late-summer period as Oliver Stone's World Trade Center and Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers, or they decided they need a lot more time to get it ready.”

[ejolly]

This is a crock. Let's face it, if they want to charge Mel with anything, they should lock him up for being a dumb ass. What he said was stupid, yes. However, this effort to get him to apologize and as Ari Gold...excuse me, Emanuel says "boycott Mel and sacrifice the bottom line" is nothing short of a lynching by the Jewish community.Even though what he said was, well I've heard worse, he still has a right to say it. Racial slurs are not yet against the law. What is even more horrifying is how the media is trumping this up saying "he'll never recover", "its the most horrible thing in the world"...no its not. A couple of names called by an overpaid actor should not be put in that category. Hell, I even saw one commentator/Publicist that said she'd rather represent Michael Jackson than Mel.
Didn't MJ put his hand up a kid's a++hole???
Back to blogging agent....
Your comments are ridiculous. they are coming from a guy who would sell his brother down the river to close a deal.
We all know that, during WWII when the Nazis were exterminating Jews left and right, the Hollywood power and elite, made up of older rich Jewish men, fully knew what was going on and did NOTHING about it. They just didn't want to rock the boat.
What I am getting at is, Hollywood is all about the bottom line. And all about money. Gibson is a cash cow plain and simple. He didn't sell millions of tickets to PASSION because a lot of Jewish people went to see the film.
So as long as he is a cash cow, he will get work and make his movies and studio executives and, of course, agents, will work with him and represent him.