Mel Gibson is currently promoting Daddy’s Home 2, in which he has a starring role because the powers that be have decide it’s time to welcome daddy Gibson home. This means he has many opportunities to weigh in on the sexual scandals currently embroiling Hollywood, so here’s his opinion: he’s glad abusers are finally getting their comeuppance. OH, REALLY?
Gibson was asked during a press junket about Harvey Weinstein and the domino effect of abusers finally, finally getting called out in the film industry. He’s all for it, per The Guardian:
“Things got shaken up a little bit and there is a lot of light being thrown into places where there were shadows and that is kind of healthy. It’s painful, but I think pain is a precursor to change.”
Just a reminder: in 2010, Mel Gibson was caught on tape berating his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva with racist and misogynist language. In 2011, he was arrested on a misdemeanor battery conviction related to Grigoreieva, to which he pled no contest. This is on top of an incident in 2006, in which he was recorded by a police officer during an antisemitic rant, after being pulled over because he was driving while under the influence.
As recently as 2016 that Gibson indicated that his experiences have not necessarily led to contrition. In an interview with Variety, he defended himself against the 2006 altercation:
“It was an unfortunate incident. I was loaded and angry and arrested. I was recorded illegally by an unscrupulous police officer who was never prosecuted for that crime. And then it was made public by him for profit, and by members of – we’ll call it the press. So, not fair. I guess as who I am, I’m not allowed to have a nervous breakdown, ever.”
His abuse of Grigorieva didn’t come up during that Gibson character rehabilitation attempt. The light was shone into the shadows of Gibson’s character long ago. Why won’t he scuttle away, already?