I watched The View this morning seeing if they’d address the controversy over their inaccurate “Down Low” conversation pertaining to gay black men last month. (As we mentioned earlier today, GLAAD has taken out a full page ad criticizing The View for inaccuracy and asking for an apology.) They didn’t, (at least in the first half that I saw) but they did discuss Mel Gibson’s rant against Oksana. One thing I found very interesting is that Whoopi Goldberg sort-of defended Mel and said she knew him personally and knew he wasn’t a racist. (Video is above.) She did admit repeatedly that he was an “a**hole” and a “bonehead” though. Joy countered that the guy is a racist and anti-semite and that there are plenty of people who drink heavily and don’t say those things. It’s worth noting that Whoopi is not saying Mel was drunk when he said those awful things to Oksana, she’s saying he was drunk when he went off on the police officer during his 2006 DUI arrest. Here’s the relevant part of their conversation.
Whoopi: I don’t like what he did here, but I know Mel and I know he’s not a racist… He may be a bonehead… I have had a long friendship with Mel…
You can say he’s being a bonehead but I can’t sit and say that he’s a racist having spent time with him in my house with my kids. I can’t say it and so I really just need to say that. I don’t like what he’s done. Make no mistake…
Joy: Do you think he’s anti-semitic?
Whoopi: I think he’s an a**hole (covers mouth, audio is silent)
Joy: Somebody says to a police officer, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” That’s not anti-semitic?
Whoopi: Drunks say stupid stuff to people all the time because they’re drunk. They’re out of control. They are not thinking they are idiotic. That’s why I don’t like alcohol. I can’t say anything about that because I know what people are like when they’re drunk. This rant, I don’t think he’s drunk on this rant…
Joy: A lot of people drink and don’t say those things.
[Transcribed from The View, 7-12-10]
Bonnie Fuller of Hollywood Life was on MSNBC this morning discussing this topic and she thinks that Mel’s career is just about over now that this tape has come out. Mel’s been officially dropped by his agency and the release of his film The Beaver with Jodie Foster has been postponed. He’s not a bankable star by any stretch at this point and the future of all of his projects is up to question.
Meanwhile more of Mel Gibson’s very offensive disgusting e-mail rant has been posted on Radar. Kaiser will cover that shortly and the gist is that it’s worse than the last one.
Thanks to TVSquad for the video above
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