Hollywood's Hypocrisy? Mel Gibson is Fired

Ed here: This week actor Zach Galifianakis and other name actors on Hangover 2 insisted that Mel Gibson, who'd been scheduled to do a cameo in the picture, be fired. A number of journalists have noted that they seemed to have no problem with Gibson being in the film until somebody leaked the fact that he would be appearing. At least that's one theory. Now Gibson is one reprehensible son of a bitch. The joke is that we'll have to create new minority groups because we're running out of ones he can insult--Jews, blacks, Hispanics, Catholics and probably some others I can't think of at the moment.

But a number of Hwood columnists have turned not on Gibson but on Galifiansks and Cooper and Helm (the stars) for indulging in what the writers see as Hwood hypocrisy.


BY MATT ZOLLER SEITZ in Salon

If artists should be publicly censured and denied employment on the basis of offenses they commit in private life, how come Gibson is a pariah right now for threatening and hitting his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, while Alec Baldwin, who verbally abused his 11-year-old daughter on the phone, lashed out at a photographer, and has a long record of frightening behavior toward his ex-wife Kim Basinger, is currently one of the most beloved figures on network TV?

And while we're keeping score, how is it that Roman Polanski -- in theory a pariah after fleeing the United States to avoid prosecution on charges of drugging and raping a barely adolescent girl -- got a 2003 Oscar as Best Director (in absentia) and a standing ovation, while a 1999 honorary Oscar for director Elia Kazan was preceded by months of protest over Kazan being a rat for the House Un-American Activities Committee? One wonders, how many of the actors that made a big show of sitting on their hands when Kazan got his award applauded loudly for Polanski four years later? And does anyone doubt that if Polanski offered Galifianakis the lead role in his next film that the actor wouldn't happily accept? Or that if Tyson invited Galifianakis to his birthday party, that he'd show up with a bottle of Jagermeister, then re-enact the infamous punch-out from "The Hangover" while guests snapped pictures with their cell phones and posted them on Twitter?

Why is Lindsay Lohan, substance abuser and intoxicated driver, borderline-unemployable right now, but Kate Moss, a one-time cokehead blasted as a toxic role model for young women, still a sought-after model, appearing in a Valisere lingerie campaign and on the cover of Bryan Ferry's new album "Olympia"? And how is it that Charlie Sheen, who was accused of strangling his wife Brooke Mueller and holding a knife to her throat on Christmas Day, 2009, is still the star of the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men," and recently signed a new contract guaranteeing him two more years of employment? And if indeed a star's repugnant private life should affect the public's perception of him, why is Sheen's sitcom beating "Dancing with the Stars" in the ratings?

A bit of voice-over from the Vietnam epic "Apocalypse Now" applies here: "Charging a man with murder in this place is like giving out speeding tickets at the Indy 500."

for the entire article go here:
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/mel_gibson/index.html?story=/ent/movies/film_salon/2010/10/22/mel_gibson_mike_tyson_hangover_2

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Josh Dickey from The Wrap

Everything, that is, but the timing. UnlikeTom Cruise, who had laid low for awhile, this was way, way too soon.

Loath to be associated with Mel in any way, the cast and crew of “The Hangover,” inarguably the moment’s coolest kids in comedy, made a big fuss when he was invited to their table. The on-set tension got to be too much, so Robinov and Phillips bagged the idea.

Now, the next group of actors who find themselves in that position will have this to consider: Do they want the added shame of being the ones who accepted what Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms would not?

When Mel heard the news that he lost the gig over a cast revolt, he was “as gracious as a person can be in a situation like that,” a person close to the production told TheWrap.

But no amount of grace and image rehab can wash away the shame of being humiliated by the cool kids in front of everybody.

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/blog-post/hangover-cool-kids-just-killed-mel-gibsons-career-again-21932