For years after his highly publicized anti-Semitic outbursts, Mel Gibson couldn’t find much work in Hollywood.
But now he is back in the film capital, as Donald Trump’s “special ambassador.”
President-elect announced Thursday He was tapping the actor and director, along with fellow conservative celebrities Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone, in the newly created role of “special ambassadors to a great but deeply troubled place, Hollywood, California.”
In his post on Truth Social, Trump offered few details about what the role would involve, but hinted that Gibson and others would push his ideas toward the entertainment industry, and that he would lean on them for advice on the subject.
“They will serve as my special envoys for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost so much of its business over the past four years to foreign countries, to a place bigger, better and stronger than ever before!” Trump wrote days before his inauguration. “These three extremely talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will do what they suggest. It will once again be, like the United States of America itself, the Golden Age of Hollywood!”
The Golden Age of Hollywood It featured prominent Jewish talent and studio executives. Meanwhile, Gibson has become better known in recent years for his anti-Semitism.
In 2006, he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol. The “Brave Heart” star shouted, “Fuck the Jews,” adding: “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” He asks the arresting officer if she is Jewish.
This incident came only two years later Initial release of “The Passion of the Christ” A controversial biopic about Jesus that Jewish groups say depicts anti-Semitic falsehoods about Jews being responsible for Jesus’ death.
gibson — whose father, Hutton, was a prominent Holocaust denier He later apologized for his drinking, but not for his remarks, which led several Jewish groups to condemn him and briefly affected his career.
His reputation took another hit a few years later when he made graphic and racist threats of domestic violence to his then-wife. Actress Winona Ryder is Jewish. She also accused him of calling her “a furnace dodger.” Reference to the Holocaust.
But despite the setbacks, Gibson was never completely out of the game, and in recent years has made a successful return to Hollywood. In 2016 World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge. The film, starring Jewish actor Andrew Garfield as a conscientious objector Christian, was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Gibson. He said he plans to film the second part of The Passion next year.
Trump pledged to curb anti-Semitism during his second term. The longtime president-elect, a show business staple, has demonstrated a love-hate relationship with Hollywood. While he gained renewed fame with his reality show “The Apprentice” in the 2000s, he frequently used the pulpit of his first term to attack celebrities who criticized him. He had harsh words for the film industry after the 2019 South Korean thriller “Parasite” won best picture at the Academy Awards, the first non-English language film to do so.
“And the winner is a film from South Korea. What the hell was that all about? he said at a rally shortly after the ceremony. “Can we get ‘Gone with the Wind’ back please? ‘Sunset Boulevard’?”
In 2017, Gibson has reportedly made donations to a Holocaust survivors’ organization. Last year, he supported Trump in the presidential election, and last week his Malibu home burned down due to the ongoing Los Angeles fires.
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