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T U E S D AY, A U G U S T 0 1 , 2 0 0 6In Defense Of Mel GibsonI haven't liked Mel Gibson for a good 15 years, thanks to access to nastyoff-the-record comments he's given about gays and other people foryears. I also think he's a poor director (though "Braveheart" is infinitelybetter than "The Man Without A Face" and "The Passion of theChrist"). I thought "The Passion" was laughably anti-Semitic and wildlyinaccurate historically, starting with the depiction of Jesus lugging theentire cross (when we know He would have only carred the cross bar)and the simple fact that Jesus was a white guy. Yes, his dad is aHolocaust denier and Gibson has parroted those same beliefs (usingthe same language as them when discussing the Holocaust) when givenchance after chance to politely distance himself from them. Yes, hebroke with the Catholic Church to take part in a sect that rejects thePope and yet still gets called a faithful Catholic by the clueless press. Iaccept all of that. And now he gets drunk and reveals the nasty, bigotedthoughts he has carefully hidden from the public. So of course he's abigot. But mostly Gibson tries to keep those obnoxious thoughts tohimself, if only because he knows it's bad for business. And when theydid spill out, he apologized pretty profusely and completely. RogerFriedman of Fox News applauds talent agent Ari Emanuel for sayingeveryone should refuse to do business with Gibson. I'm going to go outon a limb and guess that Emanuel hasn't done business with Mel inmany, many years, if ever. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize for leaping toconclusions. But I'm just guessing Emanuel is saying people shouldn'tdo business with a guy he's NEVER done business with. Try dumping atop-grossing client you DO have for their bigotry and I'll be a lot moreimpressed. Top Jewish leaders said Gibson's apology was insincere andnot complete enough. Huh?There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, foranyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semiticremark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in theJewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that Isaid.... But please know from my heart that I am not ananti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes againstmy faith. I'm not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to takeit one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewishcommunity, with whom I can have a one on one discussion todiscern the appropriate path for healing. I am asking the Jewishcommunity, whom I have personally offended, to help me on myjourney through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to theNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G . C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: In Defense Of Mel Gibsonhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/08/in-defense-of-mel-gibs...
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POPSURFING.COM: In Defense Of Mel Gibsonhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/08/in-defense-of-mel-gibs...
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