Mel Gibson is sick of you bringing up his 2006 drunk driving incident. He’s trying to move past it, but after 10 years, people won’t let him forget.
In an interview with Variety’s “Playback” podcast, the Hacksaw Ridge director admitted that he’s done talking about his brush with the law. In 2006, the Oscar winner was arrested for driving drunk and was recorded spewing some disparaging remarks towards a female officer. Most notably, Gibson said, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.”
It’s been 10 years, but that’s kind of a hard image to shake (even for an Oscar winner who’s since worked on a number of successful films).
“Others bring it up, which kind of I find annoying, because I don’t understand why after 10 years it’s any kind of issue,” he said. “Ten years have gone by. I’m feeling good. I’m sober, all of that kind of stuff, and for me it’s a dim thing in the past.”
Gibson swears that despite his comments, he’s not “some kind of hater.”
“Surely if I was really what they say I was, some kind of hater, there’d be evidence of actions somewhere. There never has been,” he said. “I’ve never discriminated against anyone or done anything that sort of supports that reputation.”
“And for one episode in the back of a police car on eight double tequilas to sort of dictate all the work — life’s work and beliefs and everything else that I have and maintain for my life — is really unfair,” he added.
Gibson also believes that the evidence of his disparaging remarks were obtained illegally and that it’s the officer who should be called out, not him.
“It was an unfortunate incident,” he said. “I was loaded and angry and arrested. I was recorded illegally by an unscrupulous police officer who was never prosecuted for that crime. And then it was made public by him for profit, and by members of — we’ll call it the press. So, not fair. I guess as who I am, I’m not allowed to have a nervous breakdown, ever.”
And there you have it. Mel Gibson isn’t allowed to have a nervous breakdown — as if that’s something everybody is allowed to have without much fuss in the first place.
