Mel Gibson is hoping his role in The Expendables 3 in 2014 might be his Hollywood redemption. He is reportedly grateful to Sylvester Stallone for giving him this chance in light of his record of rude, drunken behavior and incredibly derogatory–and even anti-Semitic–comments and rants. Some people, however, aren’t so sure that The Passion of the Christ star deserves another chance at Hollywood fame. A journalist, however, is imploring Hollywood to give the actor just one more.
Alison Hope Weiner posted an opinion piece on Deadline.com recently, and claims Mel Gibson is a different man now. The sister of Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, some feel the journalist doesn’t quite remember things the way they really happened.
It was back in 2006 when Mel Gibson was arrested for DUI and made a comment about Jews being responsible for causing all the wars. Not long after that headline-maker the actor was recorded verbally abusing his live-in girlfriend and mother of one of his children–Oksana Grigorieva. He was also accused of abusing her physically. Shortly thereafter, Gibson’s own stepmother filed a domestic violence restraining order against him and said she feared for her own life.
Alison Hope Weiner, however, says she got to know Mel Gibson, and that he deserves another chance.
“I’m telling you, my friend Mel Gibson has pulled himself together. He is sober seven years, hitting the gym for a role in an independent film, and thinking positively about the future. It has been 11 years since he was paid by a major studio to star in a film, and he hasn’t directed a studio film since Braveheart won five Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. He wasn’t the bad person I thought he was back when I first wrote about him, and I’m telling you, he is now not the person you think he is. As one A-list star told me recently, ‘Mel has spent enough time in the penalty box.’”
She goes on to say he expressed “sincere empathy for the people he’d hurt.” She claims he told her he has “dedicated the last few years to getting to know people in the Jewish community and has quietly dedicated millions to them.”
A couple of imperative questions come to light when reading Ms. Weiner’s opinion piece. Is she on his payroll? And just exactly how well did she get to “know” Mel Gibson?
What do you think? Does Gibson deserve another chance in Hollywood?
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