Image Credit: Philippe AntonelloThe last time Mel Gibson found himself in the middle of a media firestorm — i.e. when he made sexist and antisemitic comments during his D.U.I. arrest in Malibu — Christian leaders rushed to his defense. But this time, the people who so fervently supported him and helped turn The Passion of the Christ (pictured) into the highest-grossing independent film of all time have remained silent for the most part. Such prominent Gibson defenders as James Dobson Focus on the Family (which Dobson founded, but no longer runs), and the evangelical group Promise Keepers had issued no statements regarding the five leaked recordings of Gibson purportedly ranting at his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. Following the actor’s 2006 outburst, Dobson released a statement saying, “Mel has apologized profusely for this incident, and there the matter should rest.” At the time of this posting, Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Promise Keepers had not responded to EW’s request for comment.
Only Catholic League president Bill Donohue has publicly commented on the matter, telling Yahoo’s The Upshot Blog: “He’s a good man in many respects. If he were really a deep-seated racist bigot, all the Jews and blacks who’ve worked with him would have said so.” But when reminded of what appears to be a pattern of Gibson using hateful ethnic slurs, Donohue said, “Bigotry is a problem that he has to purge. He has to pivot. But I’m more concerned with what Bill Maher and Joy Behar have to say than Mel Gibson. Maher and Behar say the most vicious things about the Catholic Church and do it with impunity. Mel gets drunk and flies off the handle and says racist things and he gets pilloried for it.” Donohue also surmised that so few Christians have expressed support for Gibson because “there’s a sense of exasperation [about his behavior]. We have to see some evidence that he’s pivoted. The ball’s in his court, but people are going to walk away at some point.”
So far, the most strident comment to emerge in Gibson’s defense has come not from the Religious Right but from conservative pundit John Derbyshire. The controversial National Review columnist said this to The Daily Beast: “Clearly, Mel’s a guy who’s deeply unhappy some of the time and finds relationships with women difficult. Still, I’d maintain that ‘a guy who’s deeply unhappy some of the time and finds relationships with women difficult’ describes a largish portion of male humanity — one in three at the very minimum. What’s the fuss?” Then he went for the kill: “These tapes are like nude photographs taken without permission. There oughta be a law. Oksana Grigorievna [sic] is a gold-digging tart.”
Additional reporting by Dave Karger.
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Mel Gibson and the tale of the tape: When a movie star’s flameout becomes his defining performance
Mel Gibson: Despicable he, but will his behavior keep you from buying a ticket to his movies in the future?
I’m surprised Promise Keepers and the other alleged (I say alleged, because they in NO way actually represent most Christians) organizations haven’t come out to defend Mel “The Monster” Gibson. His values seem to align perfectly with theirs.
Wait – didn’t we agree “Enough is Enough!” earlier today?
Thank you for noting that so many of those groups that claim they speak for Christians do NOT actually speak for most of us. For instance, I’m a Catholic, and the Catholic League/Bill Donohue have said so many things that have filled me with rage over the years…good God I can’t stand them, and a lot of people don’t realize that the group is not part of the church. Anyways, Donohue and Derbyshire are idiots.
Yeah, shame it took something like this to keep them quiet…but I’m enjoying their silence all the same!
Wow, was your comment absolutely dripping with pre-judging bigotry or what? Not defending Mel, but the hypocrisy of those rushing to crucify the guy for hate and bigotry are even worse, and lack total self-awareness.
I can’t understand people. Yes, what he said was terrible. But it wasn’t a press release. It was a private conversation. When people decide to air all of their dirty laundry, then, and only then, can they judge someone else’s.
Death threats and hitting a woman are not simply someone’s “dirty laundry”. They are a crime.
She may be a gold digging tart, but he CHOOSE to have a relationship with her. People keep wanting to drag her down, but the truth is that he, on his own free will, was seeing her and had a child with her.
Frankly I don’t think many are commenting because it’s just a sad, sordid story kind of like how John Edwards cheated on his wife while she had cancer. It’s all just disturbing.
Great, I saw “Mel Gibson” and “tapes” in the same sentence again…in the same day. Maybe I really WILL shoot myself.
This John Derbyshire guy seems like a guy who’s paid to sound like an internet troll. Just a professional version of your little cousin who says outrageous things at the holiday dinner table to get attention.
He has plenty of good ole Average American Christians defending him on EW boards, saying ‘everybody’ says these things. Which is a lie since I have never been in a fight with anyone and said anything of the likes. When you are fighting with someone decent people can find themsleves saying to the the other person hurtful things like-idiot ass jerk bitch etc. But spewing hate for groups of people, using the ugliness gutter words that are to the extreme- no. But based on the fact that more people have defended him on your boards and hidden behind the ‘God says not to judge’ while these people have built their lives on judging anyone and any celebrity who dares jaywalk or is gay or dresses off or sleeps around fill in the banks. Well it is very interesting in sad sick way.
I bet Mel Gibson is a big fan of the Stieg Larsson trilogy, for reasons entirely unrelated to my own.
Ha!
No Christian should put all their faith in a person. Every person is flawed and sins. I am a Christian and I know that the only person I should ever put all my faith in is Jesus. It’s always too bad when you put too much faith in sinful people.
Well said, Margie. As Paul stated, Christ died for sinners, of whom I am the worst.
CHRISTIANITY IS STUPID
Given that the Catholic Church has just released a decree stating that the ordination of female priests is one of the gravest crimes a priest can commit and is punishable on a par with child abuse, you’d think one of their PR men might think it could be handy to, perhaps, you know, suggest that domestic abuse and violence is a bad thing? Or maybe since they clearly don’t believe that women should have access to power and influence on the same level as men and women are all harlots drenched in sin anyway, they couldn’t care less what happens in a marriage.
The Catholic church is steeped in misogyny and child abuse. It subjugates women and protects pedophiles. No surprise there. Bill Mahr and Joy Behar say what they do because they’ve lived through things that the church has perpetrated, as have I. Organized religion has done more damage to the human race than disease ever could.
It sounds to me like maybe Mel Gibson produced and released Passion of the Christ for money, taking advantage of conservative Christians while personally maintaining his Hollywood lifestyle.
1 in 3 men could actually be an accurate – statistically 1 in 4 women in america are victims of domestic abuse. The numbers seem to match up well. What you’re hearing isn’t a man that’s having a tough time with his ex, it’s a pattern of violent and controlling language, and it’s pretty scary how okay people are with that. But we also live in a society where violence against women isn’t considered to be very important.
Well put.
I want my sugar pops but Swedishmatchmaker was better
I’m tired of people talking about how she “blackmailed him”. That’s one messed up situation, but it does NOT change the fact that Mel used THOSE words to insult her. You could hate someone with all your might for all I care, but the choice to use THOSE words is what makes him what he is. A flat out racist. You cannot blame alcohol, anger, or anything else. Especially after he already faced very public scrutiny for that drunken arrest not too long ago.
He’s had a few good movie roles, but he does NOT deserve any special treatment because he is responsible for some HORRIBLE movies too.
Here’s a list of the 4 Worst Mel Gibson Movies…
http://digitallizardproductions.com/daily-fournication-07.15.10–worst-mel-gibson-movies.html
I think everyone should back off of Mel Gibson and remember how he managed to capture a tremendous audience to watch the movie he so brilliantly directed, The Passion Of The Christ. He picked the right person, Jim Caviezel, to portray Jesus because Jim actually felt some of the beating and was struck by lightning during the filming which made the scene even more touching, but this didn’t discourage him to quit. I hope it didn’t damage Jim’s health in any way. There was not a dry eye in the audience when I saw the movie. Jim also refused any endorsements for advertisements to promote the film for fear it would take away from the experience the audience felt. By the way, Jim Caviezel’s intials are the same as Jesus Christ (J.C.)
One man who was an athiest watched it and wouldn’t believe until his daughter asked him to watch with her and as he explained each scene to her, an overwhelming spiritual feeling came over him and he is now a believer. I think he calls it “The Passion’s Miracle”. Mel has brought millions of people to Christ Let’s not turn our back on him and judge/crucify him as Jesus was.
I feel Mel really loved his girlfriend enough and didn’t want other men drooling over her by the way she dressed. The so called rage he is portraying is just a cry for her to listen to his feelings. She was mighty lucky to have someone to love like Mel Gibson and should have respected his feelings and this would not be happening. Women’s rights are good to a certain extent but has ruined a lot of relationships and driven men temporarily unbalanced.
Mel didn’t like the way his woman dressed? That’s rich for a man who showed his ass on the silver screen. And allowing him to be absolved of any bad behavior because of his propaganda snuff film is akin to letting priests off the hook after raping altar boys because they are, well, priests. But I guess as an atheist, I have a higher standard of morality than a christian like yourself because I find this sort of behavior inexcusable.