14 DAY TRIAL // Gary Oldman stepped into a big pile of doo-doo with his most recent Playboy interview in which, among other things, he defended Mel Gibson for his infamous 2006 anti-Semitic arrest and Alec Baldwin for his most recent use of a gay slur in addressing a paparazzo. Having realized that, he’s written an open apology letter to the Anti-Defamation League saying how sorry he is.
The point Oldman was trying to make in the interview was that political correctness would turn out to be the death of us because we’d become so accustomed to finding offense in everything that it was difficult or even downright impossible to ever not be a hypocrite.
Oldman argued his case using Gibson and Baldwin’s examples, saying that the only reason Hollywood turned on them was because of hypocrisy born out of this dreaded sense of always being PC. He even said that he understood and somehow related to these two gentlemen and the instances that got them blackballed by the industry, and stressed his belief that whoever said different was most definitely a hypocrite.
Basically, Oldman said that whoever swore that they never used the F-word in relation to a gay man, or said anti-Semitic or even racist things was a liar – because we all do that behind closed doors. At the same time, he insisted he was no bigot, just a truth-teller.
You can imagine the outrage when Oldman’s words made it out in print. The most vocal on the issue was the Anti-Defamation League – hence Oldman’s apology for it.
“I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people. Upon reading my comments in print – I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter,” he wrote, as Deadline reports.
“I hope you will know that this apology is heartfelt, genuine, and that I have an enormous personal affinity for the Jewish people in general, and those specifically in my life. The Jewish People, persecuted thorough the ages, are the first to hear God's voice, and surely are the chosen people,” Oldman continued.
As celebrity apologies go, this one was pretty well executed. It felt genuine to many but the League isn’t convinced. Nay, the League isn’t impressed at all by it, and they’re looking into what could be done to “punish” him.
“We have just begun a conversation with his managing producer,” Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the ADL, says in a statement to Yahoo!. “At this point, we are not satisfied with what we have received. His apology is insufficient and not satisfactory.”
Mel Gibson, for instance, was forced into unwilling and temporary retirement after his anti-Semitic rant, because many players simply refused to work with him after it. Alec Baldwin lost his TV job for the gay slur he uttered. Gary Oldman should probably expect something similar to happen to him too.