Did Cops Cover-Up Mel Gibson Tirade?

I don't like this guy.

Did Cops Cover-Up Mel Gibson Tirade?



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/31/entertainment/main1848016.shtml

CBS/AP) Despite an apology by Mel Gibson, Hollywood insiders and the star's fans sought more details about his reported anti-Semitic tirade during an arrest for drunken driving and whether sheriff's deputies gave him preferential treatment.

Gibson's publicist, Alan Nierob, would not elaborate beyond an apology Gibson issued Saturday in which the star admitted he uttered "despicable" things to deputies.

"I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested," the actor said in that statement. "I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry."

A leaked arrest report quoted Gibson as saying "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," and asking an arresting officer, James Mee, "Are you a Jew?"

It's not the first time some have alleged Gibson is anti-Semitic. Some critics thought his movie, "The Passion of the Christ," blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus.

"I think that now, though, even people who gave him the benefit of the doubt at that time are thinking, 'Wow, maybe he really does belief this,'" People magazine Editor-at-large Jess Cagle told CBS News' The Early Show. "It's a real dichotomy between the way he behaved on Friday morning and what people see when they deal with him."

The entertainment Web site TMZ posted the document, which it said was four pages from the original arrest report. Harvey Levin, the reporter who first obtained the notes, told CBS News correspondent Vince Gonzales that the notes said Gibson was belligerent and attempted to flee. After being handcuffed, he allegedly also told the deputy he owned Malibu, before beginning a barrage of anti-Semitic remarks.

Sheriff's officials have declined to comment on Gibson's alleged remarks, but as Gonzales reports, the sheriff's department initially said Gibson was arrested without incident or special treatment.

"The sheriffs lied. They just flat out lied," Levin told CBS News.

The Office of Independent Review, a department watchdog panel, has opened an investigation into whether authorities tried to cover up Gibson's alleged inflammatory comments, said its chief attorney, Mike Gennaco. Sheriff's deputies have many of Gibson's statements and actions on tape, Gonzales reports.

"Assuming that the report was excised, then the question is was it done for a good reason within regulations," he said.

Gibson, a Roman Catholic, has filmed public service announcements for Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca's relief committee dressed in a sheriff's uniform. Levin told CBS News he believes the department changed reports and covered up for Gibson because of his support for Baca.

"There is no cover-up," Baca told the Los Angeles Times. "Trying someone on rumor and innuendo is no way to run an investigation, at least one with integrity."

Gibson was arrested after deputies stopped his 2006 Lexus LS 430 for speeding at 2:36 a.m. Friday. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said deputies clocked him doing 87 mph in a 45 mph zone.

A breath test indicated Gibson's blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, Whitmore said. The legal limit in California is 0.08 percent.

Gibson posted $5,000 bail and was released hours later.

In his statement, Gibson said he has struggled with alcoholism and had taken steps "to ensure my return to health."

TMZ also reports that Gibson has been stopped by police two other times, once three years ago when he was allegedly driving 74 miles per hour on Pacific Coast Highway and another time about a year ago when he was driving above the speed limit on the same highway. Both times, sources told TMZ that deputies let him go.

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called Gibson's apology "unremorseful and insufficient." Foxman also called on Hollywood executives to "realize the bigot in their midst" and "distance themselves from this anti-Semite," the Los Angeles Times reported.

On Sunday, some in Hollywood debated whether Gibson's career could recover from the scandal.

"It's a nuclear disaster for him," said publicist Michael Levine, who has represented Michael Jackson and Charlton Heston, among others. "I don't see how he can restore himself."

But Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, said filmgoers could overlook the alleged ugly comments if a future Gibson film was perceived as worthwhile.

"Usually it comes down to the marketing of the movie and does the average person want to see the film," Dergarabedian said.

Gibson, 50, won a best-director Academy Award for 1995's "Braveheart," and also starred in the "Lethal Weapon" and "Mad Max" films, among others,

In recent years, he has turned his attention to producing films and TV shows through his Icon Productions. His last major starring role was in the 2002 film "Signs." He played a supporting part in the 2003 film, "The Singing Detective," which he also produced.

The hundreds of millions of dollars he made producing the 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ" has given the star the ability to finance his own films, giving him a measure of independence from the major studios.

Days before the release of "The Passion of the Christ," Gibson's father, Hutton Gibson, sparked controversy when he told an interviewer that the Holocaust was mostly "fiction."

"I think his peers are reading it as Mel is a very disturbed guy. His father probably filled his head when he was young with all this crazy anti-Semitic stuff, and maybe when Mel drinks he starts spouting that stuff out," Cagle told The Early Show.

"I have a feeling we will see him go into rehab," Cagle added.

Gibson's next project is "Apocalypto," a movie about the decline of the Mayan empire that is being distributed by The Walt Disney Co. The Walt Disney Co. also, through its ABC television network, has a development deal with Gibson's company to make a miniseries about the Holocaust, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, urged Gibson to drop the Holocaust project, telling the L.A. Times it would be "inappropriate."

Gibson is expected to appear in court Sept. 28 on his misdemeanor DUI charge, the newspaper says.


another:

Gibson's Newest 'Lethal Weapon' -- His Mouth

http://www.latimes.com/news/printed...column?page=1&coll=la-headlines-pe-california

This may be the first and only time you'll see the phrase "sugar t***" in one of my columns, and ironically, the man who made it possible is Oscar winning actor-director Mel Gibson, a devout Christian.

Gibson allegedly used that remark on a female sergeant after his Friday arrest in Malibu on suspicion of drunk driving. To be precise, Gibson is said to have asked:

"What do you think you're looking at, sugar t***?"

I can't recall a line that original in any of his movies. But it can't possibly have sat well with Mrs. Gibson, or with the Gibsons' seven children, or with the millions of true believers who flocked to see the Gibson movie "The Passion of the Christ."

To them, such a vulgar comment must feel like a slap in the face, and I imagine it's hard to simply turn the other cheek.

Especially when you consider that Gibson was allegedly doing 80 mph on the Pacific Coast Highway at 2:30 in the morning with a bottle of tequila in his Lexus, and that he dropped F-bombs like a sailor when he got pulled over. It was F this and F that, an R-rated performance start to finish. When he got to the station, he reportedly tried to smash a phone and urinate in his cell.

Where does the penance begin? A hundred thousand rosaries and six months of Hail Marys?

And that's not even the half of it. The word is that Gibson — who once starred in a movie called "The Year of Living Dangerously" — tried to bolt the scene of his arrest and verbally threatened the arresting deputy. There's no telling what Gibson might have tried to do if he was still carrying the sword he wielded in "Braveheart."

Once he'd been cuffed, Gibson threatened the deputy that he'd get even with him because Gibson owns Malibu.

I thought mogul Jerry Perenchio owned Malibu.

It sounds like maybe the tequila was doing the talking in those wee hours Friday, and I, for one, would like to know where Mr. Family Man was half the night.

To make matters even worse, Gibson allegedly had some kind of a fit about Jews during the arresting process.

"The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," Gibson is said to have opined, asking the arresting deputy: "Are you a Jew?"

This guy needs help. He sees one flashing red light and thinks the Jews are after him. Imagine driving down the highway in the middle of the night and seeing Mel Gibson on the side of the road in handcuffs, not far from David Geffen's place, blaming the Jews for everything.

Just from a pure PR sense, it's probably not smart to one day angrily reject criticism that "The Passion of the Christ" is anti-Semitic, and then suddenly turn into Hezbollah Mel on PCH.

Fortunately, for professional columnists, the story doesn't end there.

When Gibson was collared, an L.A. County Sheriff's Department spokesman told reporters the famous actor had been arrested "without incident."

Makes you wonder what the Sheriff's Department counts as an "incident."

Only when the celebrity news website TMZ.com got involved in the case did a different version of the story surface. TMZ reported that Sheriff's Department supervisors tried to sanitize the arrest report, omitting Gibson's more offensive behavior and comments.

Sheriff Lee Baca denied any coverup, but the department's civilian oversight committee is investigating. As Mike Gennaco of the Office of Independent Review told The Times

I'd like to see if there was a legitimate law enforcement reason for asking that the report be altered."

I can't think of any, but if Gibson did indeed get special treatment, I think there's a lesson to be learned. It couldn't have hurt Gibson's cause that he has served as celebrity rep for the Sheriff's Star Organization, or that he donated $10,000 to the stepdaughter of a slain deputy.

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I don't know if I can match the donation, but I am willing to don a deputy's uniform, as Gibson did, and appear in a public service announcement for the department.

By chance, I was at a Malibu soiree Sunday and I've got another one scheduled for next weekend. With all that partying and driving on PCH, it can't hurt to write a check to one or more of the Sheriff's Department's favorite causes.

It's worth noting that although the Sheriff's Department didn't release a mug shot of Gibson, it seemed to have no qualms about sharing that embarrassing wild-beast photo of actor Nick Nolte when he got popped for drunk driving in 2002.

If only Nolte had had the foresight to do a public service announcement before getting tanked. And it couldn't have hurt actor Robert Downey Jr.'s cause, either.

Until further notice, there ought to be warning signs at the Malibu town limits.

"Caution: Hollywood actors on road next 27 miles."

When the tequila wore off the day after his arrest, Gibson issued a written apology for his "despicable" behavior, saying he was "deeply ashamed of everything I said." He said he had battled alcoholism in the past and added, "I profoundly regret my horrific relapse."

I'm sure he does, and I wish him well with his recovery. But it's amazing what we can learn about someone when his blood-alcohol level hits 1 1/2 times the legal limit, drowning all inhibition.

Just out of curiosity, I'd like to try some of what Gibson was drinking.

I've had a few shots of tequila in my time, but never got looped enough to ask someone wearing a badge, "What do you think you're looking at, sugar t***?"

I'm praying for you, Mel.