14 DAY TRIAL // For the first time in many, many months, actor and director Mel Gibson is finally speaking out. In a lengthy and well-structured interview for Deadline, the star addresses, among other topics, the much-mediated issue of the tapes that leaked online, on which he’s heard hurling abuse at ex Oksana Grigorieva.
While the things he said were offensive and he’d take them back in a flash if he had the chance, Mel underlines that they’d been edited and, as such, are in no way illustrative of who he is as a person.
Of course, that’s not to say that he’s trying to pin the blame on someone else, like the person who edited them: Mel takes full responsibility for his past actions, but he needs to clear the air on some things before moving on.
“I’ve never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality – period,” Gibson says in reference to accusations of racism.
“I don’t blame some people for thinking that though, from the garbage they heard on those leaked tapes, which have been edited,” he adds.
Plus, the tapes were taken out of context, in the sense that they were made in what was arguably the worst moment of his life.
“You have to put it all in the proper context of being in an irrationally, heated discussion at the height of a breakdown, trying to get out of a really unhealthy relationship,” says the star.
“It’s one terribly, awful moment in time, said to one person, in the span of one day and doesn’t represent what I truly believe or how I’ve treated people my entire life,” he adds.
As we also noted on previous occasions, in the aftermath of the leak of the tapes, former fans and media outlets rallied up, asking for a boycott of all the works with Gibson’s name on them, especially movies that had him as leading man.
He might as well never act in movies, Mel says: if that’s what the public wants, he’s ok with it because he will always have writing and directing to express himself creatively.
Moreover, if he quits, that will not make him less of an actor, because the retirement was imposed on grounds pertaining to his personal life, he says.
For the full interview, see the Deadline piece here. It’s an interesting read.