The Road Warrior

Unless you've been living under a rock since last Friday, it has been impossible to escape the Mel Gibson story, thanks to media saturation.

And while I understand the why the media ran with it....at first. Now though, I question the amount of coverage it's gotten, since the story broke....

Quite frankly, by Monday morning, I had already had enough of Mel-Gate--which is part of the reason--it's taken me this long to talk about it--what more could I possibly add to the proceedings that hasn't already been said?

Here goes...

First, let me say that, I think Gibson is a first class jerk for acting the way he did on the Pacific Coast Highway. 2 apologies later---alcohol or not, there's no excuse for such actions---I suspect there are plenty of folks out there (myself included), who now see his statements to ABC's Diane Sawyer, during a 2004 interview, in a whole new light.

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutch, offers us the latest....

Mel Gibson now faces a legal battle in addition to the one to restore his public image.

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Gibson with driving under the influence of alcohol, having an elevated blood-alcohol level and an open container of liquor in his car when he was pulled over in Malibu last week.

If convicted, Gibson faces up to six months in jail, though first-time misdemeanor drunken driving offenders usually face minimal, if any, time behind bars. It's up to the judge to determine if Gibson would serve any time.

Prosecutors made no mention of Gibson's self-described "belligerent behavior" and "despicable" remarks in the complaint _ reportedly the unleashing of an anti-Semitic tirade.

"After evaluating all the evidence presented by the Sheriff's Department _ and they presented every scrap of evidence they had _ we evaluated carefully and felt the charges we filed were the appropriate charges in this case," said district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

Gibson's lawyer, Blair Berk, declined to comment, saying, "It is inappropriate to discuss the ongoing case." An attorney may appear in the actor's place during his Sept. 28 arraignment.
Arrested at 2:36 a.m. Friday after his Lexus was stopped for speeding, Gibson allegedly had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 percent, over the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

"He will be held accountable for his violations under the law," Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said, adding that the charges "didn't surprise me."

In the aftermath of Gibson's arrest, his publicist, Alan Nierob, has said the actor-director was in an ongoing program for alcohol abuse before the arrest and has entered another, on an outpatient basis.

Gibson has apologized twice. In the latest he addressed the Jewish community, apologizing for his "vitriolic and harmful words."

According to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Sheriff's Department's report says Gibson told the arresting deputy: "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," and asked him, "Are you a Jew?"

Gibson, 50, has had a troubled relationship with Jewish organizations since his 2004 blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ," which some criticized for portraying Jews as responsible for the death of Jesus. Supporters say the movie merely followed the Gospel story.

Gibson's apologies weren't accepted by former TV producer Merv Adelson, who took out an ad in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times blasting movie studio heads for not strongly and publicly condemning the Oscar-winning actor-director.

"Let's make ourselves proud and NOT support this JERK in any way, just because he's a so called 'star,'" wrote Adelson, co-founder of Lorimar Productions, which produced such TV hits as "Eight is Enough" and "The Waltons."

A sheriff's spokesman's initial account of the arrest described it as occurring "without incident" and made no mention of Gibson's remarks, fueling claims of a cover-up after they came to light

In an interview with the Associated Press, Sheriff Baca maintained deputies made no attempts to cover up his comments.

"Those are completely false," Baca said while attending a congressional hearing in San Diego.

"The district attorney in his statement clearly verifies that all of the evidence _ including inappropriate remarks, hateful remarks, anti-Semitic remarks, including with the videotape along with the audiotape," is there.

Baca added that the deputy who stopped Gibson "had the full authority to not arrest him and just take him home."

"You know, if that were his option, if he chose that option, he would be within our policy. But he chose the arrest option, which to me, shows me he's doing a terrific job," Baca said.

As I said at the top, Gibson is a JERK and he's forever tarnished himself as far as I'm concerned. That said though, the media totally bloated the story... and made more out of it...The only reason we found out about the story at all is because he's famous. If I had made those horrid evil comments during a traffic stop, it would have remained a story for the local media...Maybe and not for very long at that. A private matter made public. You could put forth what ifs all day. What if he killed someone with the car?.....Given the current Mid-East crisis, should his raging anti-semitism be given more weight? The fact is he didn't kill anyone, and race hatred and bigotry is spewed out of some idiot's mouth in this nation every day. Just because someone famous said it, we should beat the story to death? It's ugly no matter who says it, poor schlub politician, or movie star. PERIOD.

The story doesn't impact me personally one bit, or the film industry all that much for that matter...Gibson is influential yes, but not to the medium as a whole. No one person is, when you stop and think about it. If he retired today, would they stop makiing films? Absolutely not. As for his career, Hollywood is a very forgiving town...Perhaps too forgiving.... Look at Director Roman Polanski...When everyone calms down---someone will choose to work with Gibson again. I maintain his new film, Apocalypto was troubled before the scandal broke....Forgiveness... How about Tom Cruise? Director Lee Tamahori? And why is that? $$$$$ is the driving force in the land of make believe. I have made the personal choice not to support Gibson, but that's me, and yet I'm not calling for a boycott.

Gibson indeed got special treatment from the cops when he got pulled over. His case, which comes up before a judge on September 28th, 2006, will surely be pleaded out...This is a surprise? This deserves my attention? For a solid week...? I think not. Especially when the outcome is pretty much a forgone conclusion.

Some have questioned my calling this case a "private" or "personal" matter---I still say it is. Report it, yes, but don't equate it as something bigger than what it is. A very rich egotist acting like a drunken fool. Just because he made The Passion of the Christ, and it made lots of money, doesn't mean his case should lead the nightly newscast or be the subject of too many posts on my blog.