Mel Gibson’s DUI incident continues making news

Aug 03, 2006 by Ian Evans

Mel Gibson’s weekend drunk driving incident continues to dominate the wires.

On Wednesday, the actor/director was charged with misdemeanor drunken driving for the weekend DUI that took place on Malibu’s Pacific Coast Highway.

The charge, which could lead to a six month jail term, is most likely the least of Mel Gibson’s problems. Gibson is facing a firestorm of public criticism over the anti-Semitic comments he made during his arrest, where he asked if the officer was Jewish and said that “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.”

Gibson’s PR team released an initial apology that referenced “despicable” comments made during his arrest, but that was criticised for being too vague. In his second apology, Gibson said that “I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words. Please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.”

The 50-year-old Gibson has also entered a rehab program.

Hollywood insiders wonder how this event will affect Gibson’s career and the upcoming release of his film Apocalypto. Merv Adelson, who produced Eight is Enough and The Waltons, took out an ad in the LA Times blasting Gibson and studio heads who remain silent on the issue.

“Let’s make ourselves proud and NOT support this JERK in any way, just because he’s a so called ‘star,’” he wrote.

Finally, more questions about Mel’s behavior will probably be raised when Dateline NBC runs a story on Gibson that suggests he was suicidal on the night of the incident.