Mel: Just Jew It.

I called it yesterday. Today, Mel issued a much more formal apology. This looks, at first read, like it was actually written (or at least co-written) by him, as opposed to the caffeinated publicist.

August 2, 2006 -- There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. 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.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But 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.

I’m not just asking for forgiveness. 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 ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It’s about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.

END

My opinion: Much better. This will let it end, as opposed to dragging it on.

But his ABC mini-series is still history.

Comments

[Krista]

You are so right about the mini-series
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060801/en_nm/gibson_abc_dc;_ylt=ArD.gKkx0.Sc5qfE5sOxcy9xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[Steven Feldman]

Still...is this remorse, or just regret, for this entire incident? I would have to argue the latter. Today's USA Today has a litany of past comments by Gibson, alerting the reader to a history of prejudicial, narrow-minded and just plain psychotic quotes ("I want to kill him. I want to kill his dog," he said of a NYT writer who suggested that Passion of the Christ may incite anti-semetic actions).

[John Mims, APR]

I'll have my crow with a side of fries please. I will agree that it is well-written. He shoulda done this Saturday (or at least Monday when he checked onto rehab) so that the story didn't drag into the week.