Accidents Won't Happen

Ari from Entourage (all right, not really, but the model for Ari from Entourage) gives his take on Mel Gibson's fun evening over the weekend:

I wish Mel Gibson well in dealing with his alcoholism, but alcoholism does not excuse racism and anti-Semitism. It is one thing when marginal figures with no credibility make anti-Semitic statements. It is a completely different thing when a figure of Mel Gibson's stature does so. Even when he sobers up and apologizes [...]

At a time of escalating tensions in the world, the entertainment industry cannot idly stand by and allow Mel Gibson to get away with such tragically inflammatory statements. When The Passion of the Christ came out, Gibson was quoted as categorically denying any anti-Semitism attributed to him: "For me, it goes against the tenets of my faith, to be racist in any form. To be anti-Semitic is a sin. It's been condemned by one Papal Council after another. There's encyclicals on it, which is, you know -- to be anti-Semitic is to be unchristian, and I'm not."

Now we know the truth. And no amount of publicist-approved contrition can paper it over. People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line.

Gibson's rich enough to self-finance movies, and he doesn't really act anymore, so the entertainment community isn't enabling him a whole lot outside of distribution. But what's striking is Ari's position that this is somehow a new phenomenon. Gibson's been using Holocaust denier language for years, subtly minimizing that genocide by saying things like "a lot of people died in Europe, atrocities happened, war is horrible." Gibson doesn't want to be tried for the sins of his nutcase father, but he apes his language, and of course now comes out with a very direct form of anti-Semitism. Incidentally, Gibson reportedly blew a .12 BAL. The legal limit in California is .08 and used to be .10. He wasn't all that drunk, and I don't think that can be used as an excuse anyway. If the seeds of anti-Semitism weren't there already they wouldn't gush out so easily.

This was no accident or slip of the tongue, it's been a stated belief for a number of years. And yet you don't see Mel Gibson being savaged and criticized the way an Alec Baldwin or Oliver Stone does for stating their political beliefs. Until now, that is.