LOS ANGELES — Getting drunk and mouthing off is nothing new in Hollywood, but Mel Gibson's weekend arrest has plunged him into a crisis that few could have imagined two years ago.
Back then he described himself as a filmmaker guided by the Holy Spirit on his surprise blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, saying he hoped the film had "the power to evangelize." But that image has been shattered by news of his drunken-driving arrest Friday and the anti-Semitic and sexually insulting remarks attributed to him. The Associated Press reports that an official police report substantiates claims that Gibson made the remarks and threatened a deputy.
Many say Gibson will have to explain his comments beyond his publicist-released statement, which implied that his rant was just the booze talking. And some in the entertainment industry are calling for a boycott.
One of the nation's most ardent and active promoters of church outreach for The Passion was First Family Baptist Church in Overland Park, Kan., where the Rev. Jerry Johnston brought 5,000 people to see it.
"Only the savior is perfect, and every messenger of the gospel is flawed, and Gibson certainly illustrated that to the worst degree," Johnston says now. "It was unwarranted, and a great shame has been attached to the maker of the movie." But the message of the movie remains untainted even if the "messenger obstructs the Messiah in the delivery system."
Johnston says Gibson owes an apology not only to Jewish people but to all pro-Israel evangelicals. "He could take some of the proceeds of that movie and donate them to a worthy Jewish cause in Israel," he suggests.
In Hollywood, some called for the industry to take a moral stand. Agent Ari Emanuel posted a public call for studios to boycott Gibson.
"No amount of publicist-approved contrition can paper it over," Emanuel wrote on the news and comment website HuffingtonPost.com. "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."
Political gadfly Arianna Huffington, who runs the site, says she will keep "the drumbeat" going to boycott Gibson's films. "These remarks were made while the Middle East is in flames; while anti-Semitism is on the rise. We have to have zero tolerance of any anti-Semitism."
The View host Barbara Walters told viewers she would not see another Gibson film.
Producer Peter Guber, host of AMC's Sunday Morning Shootout and chairman of Mandalay Entertainment, says: "Most people can survive a DUI, but his charge is an SUI — speaking under the influence. That's a more difficult charge. It stays in people's minds for a long, long time."
As for career damage, Guber says that "the audience forgets more than they forgive." He says Gibson will have little trouble attracting ticket-buyers to action films, thrillers or comedies, but could face difficulty drawing people to more thoughtful projects, particularly those dealing with religious or political themes that previously have earned him respect.
One such project is at ABC, which is in the early stages of development of a Gibson-produced miniseries about the Holocaust. Network vice president Quinn Taylor, who has not yet received a first draft of the script, declined to comment on the impact Gibson's statements might have on finalizing a deal, but said the network has not yet committed to it.
Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta says the studio is not altering plans to release Gibson's new movie, Apocalypto, about ancient Mayans, on Dec. 8. "We all make mistakes and I've accepted his apology to what was a regrettable situation," Oren Aviv, the new head of Disney's film studio, told Slate.com.
Gibson has remained quiet and out of sight since his arrest. "He is in an ongoing program of recovery," says publicist Alan Nierob, who added that Gibson had no public appearances planned but may soon issue another statement.
The beliefs of Gibson's father, Hutton Gibson, who has written articles denying the magnitude of the Holocaust, have for years dogged the actor/director, who has dodged the issue without denouncing his father. Says Anne Thompson, movie columnist with The Hollywood Reporter: "He probably should do something he has never done, which is make a distinction between what his father believes and what he believes."
Meanwhile, the arrest has been forwarded to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which said Monday that it would decide this week whether to file charges. Penalties for a case like this could include a fine, jail time and a suspended license.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/...s_x.htm?csp=27
Re: 
Drive a car, drive a boat, drive a plane. What does it matter? As long as I'm drunk!
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and yeah i agree; everything thats wrong in this world is b/c of MEN! 
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