Would You Join Robert Downey Jr. And Hollywood In Forgiving Mel Gibson?
Those of us who’ve followed Hollywood and celeb world for years would remember the times when the great Robert Downey Jr. was struggling with drug addictions. He was a major addict and he was frequently arrested and went through several treatment programs just to stay clean. Nobody in town wanted town to hire him. He even got fired from the show Ally McBeal.
But in the year 2003, his old friend, his Air America co-star, Mel Gibson gave Downey an opportunity to return to the big screen with the film, The Singing Detective and then RDJ did A Scanner Darkly, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gothika, Zodiac, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Sherlock Holmes, The Avengers, and you know the rest.
So.. via EW, last night RDJ was honored with the 25th Annual American Cinematheque Award and at the ceremony, RDJ specifically asked his buddy Mel Gibson to hand that award to him…
Gibson had this to say about RDJ..
“You are my friend,”
“When I saw you all those years ago and got all those warnings, I just thought, ‘There’s nothing so much wrong with him.’”
“You’re a good dude with a good heart.”
And RDJ, in his acceptance speech, said the following..
“I asked Mel to present this award for me for a reason,”
“When I couldn’t get sober, he told me not to give up hope and encouraged me to find my faith. It didn’t have to be his or anyone else’s as long as it was rooted in forgiveness. And I couldn’t get hired, so he cast me in the lead of a movie that was actually developed for him. He kept a roof over my head and food on the table and most importantly he said if I accepted responsibility for my wrongdoing and embraced that part of my soul that was ugly – hugging the cactus he calls it — he said that if I hugged the cactus long enough, I’d become a man.”“I did and it worked. All he asked in return was that someday I help the next guy in some small way. It’s reasonable to assume at the time he didn’t imagine the next guy would be him or that someday was tonight. So anyway on this special occasion and in light of the recent holidays including Columbus Day, I would ask that you join me, unless you are completely without sin in which case you picked the wrong f—ing industry, in forgiving my friend his trespasses and offering him the same clean slate you have me, allowing him to continue his great and ongoing contribution to our collective art without shame. He’s hugged the cactus long enough.”
So what do you say, everyone?
Would you join RDJ?
Would you forgive Mel Gibson for his anti semitic rants and those recorded threats he made to his girlfriend?
Would you take Gibson back for the great filmmaker and the great actor he’s always been?
Or is forgiving RDJ different from or much easier than forgiving Gibson? Why?
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I think it’s God’s place to judge people, and I know for sure I’m not perfect! When I heard his recordings and what he had said against Jews, I didn’t hate him, I felt sad for him, that he was so low, that he acted in such a way!!! There is nothing to forgive, his acts weren’t against me. He needs to forgive himself, and forget what other people think. Cause I guarantee NO ONE in Hollywood is even close to perfect, or moral, hell, and in some cases, SANE
I’m willing to forgive him. However, one can not reasonably forgive someone for the slights against others. My only slight was taking offense. I forgive him for that. However, I will not go to his films. And that’s what he really wants. I suspect that Mel couldn’t care less how I feel about him.
I don’t care about his personal life. Don’t we all have our moments when we lose it? I mean, we’re only human afterall. I ‘ve heard some of the smartest and best friends I have saying the most stupid and offending things when they are in a situation they can’t handle. Or when they are realy drunk. I don’t hate them for that, I make clear that what they did was not right and I can’t agree with what they did. But in the end, I’ll be there if they need me.
Gibson is a very talented actor and a great director. I forgive him. I did it a long time ago.
The press should leave him alone. Why? Because of this : If Hollywood defends and forgives an act like Roman Polanski did, they can forgive about anything and anyone.
I am in love with the character House, the angst-ridden doctor with the leg pain and cane. Robert Downey, Jr. is the closest real-life person to that character. His innate awareness of the pain we all suffer and his empathy for the suffering of others is what makes him such a phenomenal actor. He feels, therefore, he acts. He brought Ally Mc Beal back to life when it was floundering and he has instilled his many other characters with such reality and charisma that it is difficult to separate the actor from the man. He should look into reviving the great musical “Kean”, which was way before its time, about a great Shakespearean actor who has difficulty distinguishing between the actor and the man.
Yes, we should forgive Gibson and even ignore his personal idiosyncracies. These flaws are what make him a great actor, director, producer, creator. Art and personal bias should be kept separate, just as politics and religion should have no bearing on one another. He makes amazing films which make us think. Freedom of speech and right to think must be preserved at all costs. It will save us from the tyrants.
Make a good movie, I’ll go see it.