Two days ago, Mel Gibson – a man charged with drunk driving in 2006 during an incident in which he subjected the arresting officer to an anti-Semitic tirade, and who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanour charge of battering his former girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, in 2011 – was nominated for a Best Director Oscar for his critically-acclaimed film, Hacksaw Ridge.
In a separate incident, Casey Affleck was accused of sexual harassment in 2010 after two women filed a lawsuit against him, claiming that during the shooting of his film I’m Still Here, Casey had, amongst a number of things, crept into bed with one of the women whilst she was sleeping; instructed a crew member to take his trousers off in order to reveal his genitals to one of the women; and tried to manipulate her into staying in a hotel room with him. Casey denied all allegations, but settled both cases out of court for an undisclosed amount. Two days ago, Casey was also nominated for an Oscar, for Best Actor for his role in the award-winning film Manchester By The Sea.
The nomination of both these men for two of the most prestigious awards in the film-making industry poses an important question: should abusive stars be forgiven by Hollywood because they’ve got talent?
My gut reaction to this question is simple: no, of course not. It shouldn’t matter how gifted a person is, if they are racist and/or violent they should not be granted access to such an influential, respected and powerful industry as Tinseltown. As for them being nominated for its highest honours? Forget it.
That’s simple, right? They must find work elsewhere. But where? Is it right that other industries employ them? Surely it shouldn’t be. Theoretically they shouldn’t be allowed to work again, ever, anywhere. But how realistic is that? Not very.
Public outcry arose when Gibson and Affleck’s nominations were announced, and a number of high profile individuals took to Twitter to air their views.
Actress Constance Wu tweeted:
Writer Angelica Jade posted:
Safe to say, the past behaviours of those nominated did not go unnoticed. But were they wrong to be nominated in the first place? Was Hollywood wrong to acknowledge the – by many accounts – fantastic work of Gibson and Affleck this last year? Should their past personal behaviour (‘alleged’ behaviour in Affleck's case; the women’s claims were never proven in court though an ‘out of court settlement’, is that an admission of guilt? Debatable) tarnish their professional careers?
Hollywood is notoriously forgiving when its stars are convicted of (or accused of committing) crimes. One need only mention convicted paedophile Roman Polanski, Woody Allen (accused of sexually assaulting his own daughter), Johnny Depp (whose alleged abuse of his wife, Amber Heard, was widely reported last year) and a host of others, like Christian Slater (served 3 months in prison in 1997 for assaulting his girlfriend) and Sean Penn (spent 33 days in prison for assaulting a photographer and, in 1987, allegedly assaulted his then-wife Madonna; a claim she filed with Malibu police at the time, but recently denied) – all of whom continue to find work in Hollywood – to see how practised the industry has become in looking the other way when its members are accused of unlawful behaviour.
Should these people ever be forgiven?
I think it depends on the crime itself. Some crimes are unforgivable, like paedophilia. And when a person who, after being convicted of it, flees the country to evade imprisonment, yet continues to influence the world with their ideas through Hollywood’s unending support... what do you say to that person? No, I have no words either for film director, Roman Polanski.
I do think, however, it is possible to forgive some types of criminal behaviour; I would look at it on a case-by-case basis.
With some such crimes, forgiveness comes down to remorse. If a person has committed a crime, done the time, and shown remorse – TRUE remorse – is it right that we draw a line under their previous actions and give them a second chance? I’m inclined to think it is.
Which brings me back to the cases in point. The charges against Affleck were eventually withdrawn. He maintained he never did anything wrong, so is there any need for us to continue to condemn him? It’s fishy alright, but purely on the facts, no, there isn’t.
Gibson, however...
He was convicted of drunk-driving in 2006, and served three years probation, but what of ‘doing time’ for his anti-Semitic rant? During the incident he told the arresting officer, ‘the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world’. The arresting officer was Jewish.
When the media got wind of this, Gibson swiftly issued an apology. ‘I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge,’ he wrote, as reported by Today. ‘I’m not just asking for forgiveness,’ he went on to say. ‘I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing... I have begun an on-going program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone.’
Does that excuse it?
Skip forward five years, to 2011, and Gibson finds himself on the wrong side of the law again, in not challenging a misdemeanour charge of battery against his former girlfriend, Oksana. During a phone call between the pair, which she recorded Gibson can be heard to say:{
Is it ever possible to forgive such a comment?
In an interview published by Deadline in November last year, Gibson said: ‘I’ve done a lot of work on myself these last 10 years. I’ve deliberately kept a low profile. I didn’t want to just do the celebrity rehab thing for two weeks, declare myself cured and then screw up again. I think the best way somebody can show they’re sorry is to fix themselves and that’s what I’ve been doing and I’m just happy to be here. He who tries, gets. If you try, you get somewhere.’
Is that due remorse? Does it absolve Mel Gibson?
Hollywood seems to think so.
I do not.
Only time will tell whether Mel Gibson has reformed as he claims to have done. One thing is for certain though, he’ll carry the racist and abusive labels above his head for the rest of his career. I think it’s only right that he does.
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