Mel Gibson is not having a good month. His ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, fighting him in court, taped him saying nasty racist things and went public with them. He’s being investigated for domestic abuse. His beloved agent of 32 years, Ed Limato, passed away last weekend after a long illness. And with him no longer providing protection, his agency WME summarily dumped him.
WME chief Ari Emanuel wasn’t happy back in 2006, when the drunk Gibson threw offensive invective around on the Pacific Coast Highway. The Wrap digs up what Emanuel wrote for The Huffington Post:
“Alcoholism does not excuse racism and anti-Semitism. [People in the entertainment community] need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him …There are times in history when standing up against bigotry and racism is more important than money.”
“The shock value is zip,” says one producer. “Ari was obligated to do it given that he’d gone on the record about it. Things will die down. Everything always does.” The agency reportedly stopped repping Gibson the day before Limato died.
But don’t worry about Gibson. He doesn’t need anybody to back his movies or give him parts. THR reports that Gibson never planned to get another agent anyway.
His old friend Jodie Foster has staunchly defended him; she gave him a role in her new movie The Beaver, set to be released by Summit, which will likely push back the release date. (Foster has had bad luck with her directing gigs. Russell Crowe was supposed to star in Flora Plum but broke his shoulder, and she’s never been able to get it made.)
So what’s going to happen to Gibson?
Folks know where to find him, although the major studios are unlikely to offer him acting roles in the near term. Currently, Gibson’s filming How I Spent My Summer Vacation for his own Icon Productions. Point is, the guy can afford to pay for anything he wants to make out of his own pocket. Clearly, he’s a bad drunk with a lot of nasty crap in his head. Most people get to rant with their partners in private. Gibson didn’t.
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