Liberal Values Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

TMZ.com reports that Mel Gibson has been “calling entertainment industry honchos with whom he’s worked in the past and apologizing for his anti-Semitic rant the morning of his DUI arrest.” He said he was sorry and “Gibson also said that he hoped he would be able to work with them again.”

It doesn’t sound like many are taking this seriously. “The two people who gave the debrief on Gibson’s conversation to TMZ say that they were less than moved by the actor’s apology. One said he was civil to Gibson but was unconvinced that Gibson has changed his stripes.”

While to me this sounds like an attempt to restore his career, TMZ speculates on other possible motivations. “It is unclear why Gibson began making the calls, however his rep has told TMZ that his client was in a recovery program, which includes a 12-step program to sobriety. Step #9 is making amends. If Gibson is on Step #9, he clearly is on the fast track.”

While internet polls are meaningless, I do find it interesting that the poll accompanying this article which asks “Is Gibson being sincere?” is going 60% to 40% against Gibson.

This was a big week for bigots to apologize. George Allen also apologized to the volunteer for his opponent’s campaign for callling him “macaca.”

Update: The Washington Post reports on Sidarth’s reaction to Allen’s slur: “I had an idea of what he was getting at — that he was injecting some sort of derogatory comment toward me that had a racial bent to it. I knew that it meant ‘monkey’ and it was used toward immigrants,” Sidarth said. “I realized that I had been insulted.”