ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST?

Mel, Mel, Mel, what happened to you? Why did you have to ruin your fantastic image, your reputation as a superb actor/writer/director, by shooting your anti-semitic mouth off to your Jewish arresting officer?

You weren't even that drunk. Blowing .120 mgs by most police officer's standards, is a "low blow", we used to call it, back when I was a cop. We all vied for arresting "real drunks" who blew over .200 and up. I once arrested a guy who blew over .300, who should've been dead, not driving a car. What by all you hold Holy, were you thinking???

My friend Jason Pinter doesn't think you're going to recover from this public disgrace. He cites the example of Tom Cruise, who didn't survive his very public and stupid TV conversation by saying that there's no such thing as mental illness. But your anti-Semitic remarks at a time when Isreal is fighting for it's very life as a nation - taking on Hezbollah in a David and Goliath war while the whole world watches, wrings their hands, and prays for peace - reveals a man whose private side is lacking in sensitivity at best, and is racist at worst.

Mel, I'm one of your biggest fans. I'm a big supporter of the fact that celebrities are allowed to have their private lives, that they're human and are apt to make mistakes, and am proud that you immediately publically apologized and acknowleged that you've struggled with alcohol for years. I hope you apologized in person to your arresting officer too. Maybe the DA will send you for some "sensitivity" training, or make you do some community service at a Jewish school with kids who need help reading. Who knows?

When I lived in Ontario, we always knew when your families plane landed in Muskoka for your "cottage" vacation. Your marriage is one of the longest standing in Hollywood. You took your whole family to Scotland for the two years it took to film Braveheart. I'll bet you wish you could take those words back with everything you've got.

Now I'm going to play Devil's Advocate.

Will this kill Mel's new movie? Only if the media lets it. Only if people self-righteously say, "I'VE never said a bad word about black people, gay people, Jewish people, disabled people, homeless people, Asian people, Polish people, Hispanic people, French people, the far-Christian right people, the pro-life people, the anti-abortion people, the Catholics, the mentally ill, the mentally retarded, and people dying of AIDS." So, I'M not going to see Gibson's new movie because it'll leave a bad, anti-Semitic taste in my mouth.

Well, if you've NEVER said anything against any of THOSE people, then you can quite reasonably look down your nose at Mel Gibson, trash his new movie and the rest of his career, and get on with your life feeling pretty pleased with yourself. That's why Mel made "The Passion of The Christ", after all. Because he wanted to send out the message that he who sins has to cast the first stone.