Weinstein Company via Everett Collection
Gary Oldman is convinced Mel Gibson fell victim to “political correctness” and was treated like an “outcast” in the aftermath of his infamous racial slur scandal.
The Braveheart star hit the headlines in 2006 after launching into an anti-Semitic rant while he was being booked for drink-driving by a Jewish police officer in Malibu, California. Gibson publicly apologised, calling the incident a “moment of insanity”, and the arrest was expunged from his record in 2009 after he had served three years probation.
However, Oldman is adamant Gibson was unfairly ostracised by the Hollywood community in the wake of the scandal. He tells Playboy magazine, “We all hide and try to be so politically correct. That’s what gets me… I don’t know about Mel. He got drunk and said a few things, but we’ve all said those things… We’re all f**king hypocrites. That’s what I think about it. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word n**ga or that f**king Jew? I’m being brutally honest here. It’s the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy… Mel Gibson is in a town that’s run by Jews and he said the wrong thing because he’s actually bitten the hand that I guess has fed him – and doesn’t need to feed him anymore because he’s got enough dough. He’s like an outcast, a leper, you know? But some Jewish guy in his office somewhere hasn’t turned and said, ‘That f***ing kraut’ or ‘F**k those Germans,’ whatever it is? We all hide and try to be so politically correct. That’s what gets me. You have to be very careful about what you say.”
Oldman’s representative Douglas Urbanski has since clarified the actor’s comments and insisted The Dark Knight star is not condoning Gibson’s behaviour. He tells Britain’s The Independent newspaper, “On the topic of Mel Gibson, Gary does not ‘defend’ him… Political correctness is a thing that drives Gary and many many others crazy… In this interview, Gary is doing what many intelligent people do: he is illustrating the absurd by being absurd.”
