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Will Mel Gibson ever be able to apologize?
By Lauren | July 13, 2010
And we thought it was ugly last time … when Mel Gibson was picked up for drunk driving a while back and let loose with a barrage of ugly sexist and anti-Semitic slurs, it created a firestorm. After all, Gibson isn’t just any actor or director - he’s built his career around his allegedly strong Christian faith. It was hard to reconcile his professed beliefs with the vicious things he said then. He apologized, though, and the public (mostly) forgave him.
This time, it’s going to be a lot harder for Gibson to get back into anyone’s good graces. He’s involved in what appears to be an exceptionally nasty custody fight with his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. Someone - Grigorieva claims it wasn’t her - has released tape recordings in which someone who’s alleged to be Gibson spews four-letter words, racist slurs and threats of violence. If that’s really Gibson’s voice, then the kindest thing anyone can probably say about him has already been said by Whoopi Goldberg, who claims he’s not really a racist … he’s just an idiot.
Frequent readers of this blog know that I believe it’s possible to apologize effectively for almost anything. In this case, however, Gibson has a brutal uphill battle ahead. For one thing, an apology has to be sincere to be effective, and it’s going to be very, very difficult for Gibson to persuade anyone that he’s sincerely sorry for the way he handles his anger. For another, Gibson made one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make after his first apology: he went and did it again.
The public can forgive a lot, but it wants its idols to be at least marginally decent human beings. I don’t think it’s fair to always assume that people’s weaknesses are more “real” than their virtues, but Gibson’s temper seems to be way outside the bounds of any ordinary character flaw. There’s always hope that he’ll be able to turn things around … but don’t count on it happening any time soon.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Interesting phrase - allegedly strong Christian faith. That seems to imply that Christians’ are supposed to be perfect - but even Moses committed murder and spent 40 years in exile before God used him in mighty way. If Mel has a heart for God, he will suffer the consequences of his behavior, and become a better man in the end.
Only God knows.
August 21st, 2010 at 1:57 am
Mel Gibson isn’t the first and won’t be the last to lose his way and spend time on the darkside (we really all have one). Maybe it’s midlife crisis, maybe it’s drink, maybe it’s guilt from leaving his long time wife, maybe a combination.
Unless it is his true character, one that he just couldn’t hold it back any longer, odds are, like many other “idiots at 50+”, he’ll find his way back. It sure won’t be me casting the first stone.