Friday, August 04, 2006
HONEST MEL CRUCIFIED
0nal Institute of Dramatic Art director John Clark defends “honest, outspoken” Mel Gibson:
He’s an Aussie larrikin. He’s very generous and very honest and outspoken and not frightened to express his own views. Anyone who does that in the entertainment industry is fair game and anyone that comes out with unpopular views in the United States is likely to be crucified.
Unfortunate analogy, that. Do continue, Mr. Clark:
If Mel has made an anti-Semitic comment then suddenly he’s being pushed to one side and people are refusing to show his television series and if Disney goes ahead and does the same thing with his new movie, it seems to be a repetition of what was happening in the 1950s in the McCarthy era.
Unbelievable. More on Mel from Mark Steyn.
UPDATE. McCarthyites attack the very honest views of an outspoken Seattle resident.
UPDATE II. Nick Cohen feels sorry for Mel:
If only he had joined the Muslim Brotherhood or Hezbollah rather than an ultra-reactionary Catholic sect, his views on a world Jewish conspiracy would have done him no harm. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah declared that it if Jews ‘all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide,’ yet Channel 4 News bends over backwards to make excuses for him. Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, has a constitution which might have been written by Adolph Hitler, yet the Foreign Office gives the Brotherhood public money and the allegedly “left-wing” Ken Livingstone hugs its spiritual leader.
You picked the wrong type of fascism, Mel. If only you’d been cannier, there would be pieces in the Independent denouncing your critics as Islamophobes.
UPDATE III. Andrea Harris in comments: “By the way, does this John Clark person know that Gibson has apologized and described as ‘despicable’ his ‘honest, outspoken’ views? It sure doesn’t sound like it.”