COMMENTARY: Where Was the Lord When Mel Gibson Needed Him?
By Joseph J. Honick
Bainbridge Island, WA (HNN) -- A few nights ago, the famous actor-director and all around money-making Hollywoodite Mel Gibson got caught with his alcohol level about 50 percent over the legal limit, according to the cops who stopped him.
This might have been bad enough since he could have killed someone in his state of inebriation. But, according to reports from observers and others, he compounded his situation with anti-Semitic commentary and other abusive remarks that only his celebrity apparently relieved him of more stringent treatment at the time.
Of course, a carefully prepared public relations statement of remorse was promptly issued revealing a confession he has been a drunk most of his adult life and was planning to do something about it…finally. That he might not have done anything had he not been stopped and conducted himself rudely suggests that the bankable movie star would have kept on trucking as he had for “all his adult life”, the term he used in his own mea culpa statement issued to the press.
This is the guy whose father, Hutton Gibson, is a Holocaust denier and who has not been contradicted by his much more famous son.
Of course, both have the Constitutional right to those opinions as we do to treat both for who and what they are and what they say and do.
Numerous famous people in all fields have suffered the awful impact of alcoholism and other diseases. Many of those well known folks have had the maturity and concern for others to take themselves to rehabilitation clinics and reaped the praise and understanding of a public that realizes it could happen to anyone. Apparently Gibson, who confessed his long addiction to booze, figured he didn’t need that help and could risk endangering others until he was caught finally and had to confess, apologize and assert he would seek help. What is not given sufficient coverage is what he would have said if the cops had not stopped him when they did and he had caused major damage to the life and limb of others.
In similar circumstances, the ordinary Joe or Jane would be facing more serious consequences, would not have had the benefit of a carefully constructed public relations statement and no doubt would have faced employment denial in any worthwhile job.
One wonders at this point how those whom he courted politically, religiously and otherwise will treat this incident that revealed a much larger potential for problems, especially those bluenoses who figure everyone in Hollywood, at least everyone else there, represents a debauched sector of America. Or will Gibson get a special pass of forgiveness and understanding not granted to others?
Joseph J. Honick is a contributing columnist to Huntington News Network and President of GMA International Ltd.