In reading The Wrap’s coverage of Robert Downey, Jr’s acceptance speech after receiving the 25th Annual American Cinematheque Award in which he asks for forgiveness of his friend Mel Gibson for his anti-Semitic remarks, I was shocked. Both RDJ and his wife Susan Levin Downey are Jewish. As I sifted through the comments, I found some interesting ones regarding compassion, forgiveness, and condoning.
In my opinion, racism is horrible and in the end, we all bleed the same color no matter your race, gender, or religious beliefs. I think Gibson is a talented director and a decent actor but I do not condone nor will I forgive his anti-Semitic remarks. I may not be a religious person but I have many friends of varied faiths and no one should ever be ridiculed or ostracized for their religious beliefs no matter how different they may be to our own.
Sure, we can all sit and write comments and pass judgment on a person for their “trespasses,” but until you can step into the spotlight and be exposed for the trivial (and some not so trivial) misdeeds you’ve done in life, you shouldn’t pass judgment on someone’s mistakes. What you’ve done behind the shadow of anonymity may be scrutinized far worse than what it truly deserves. I agree with one of the comments about compassion and forgiveness – it doesn’t mean you condone their conduct, but you can be compassionate and forgive their mistakes/stupidity. However, personally, I will not forgive nor show compassion to anyone displaying racist behavior. I’ve felt the sharp end of racism myself. Growing up predominately in the Southern states, I have seen the ignorance of racism seep into the souls of good people and poison them forever against something they don’t know or understand.
Another comment to the article noted Gibson should sincerely apologize and try to atone for his transgressions. If he truly is an anti-Semite then he should stay true to his beliefs. Apologizing for believing in something won’t convert you from being a racist. Again, in my opinion, I don’t think he needs to apologize; he simply needs to man-up and be honest about his true feelings for certain people/religions/cultures. The tired excuses of saying, “I was drunk when I said/did it,” doesn’t hold weight anymore. Haven’t you heard, alcohol is ‘liquid courage’ and maybe it was all Gibson needed to finally say what he felt? I’d be very interested in hearing Gibson’s full side of the story. His admittance to this may seal his fate in Hollywood and in society but if Hollywood can continue to allow an alleged child molester, Academy Award® winning director Roman Polanski, to “work in Hollywood” via abroad, then why can’t Hollywood (the city of Saints) let an accused racist continue to make films as well? Is one misdeed more tolerable than another?
What are your thoughts? Should Hollywood forgive a racist? Would you?
It was supposed to be Robert Downey Jr.’s night, but somehow Friday’s American Cinematheque Award ceremony became all about Mel Gibson.
When the evening’s honoree took to the stage at the Beverly Hills Hilton to accept his doorstop, he had a clear message for Hollywood. “I urge you to forgive my friend his trespasses,” Downey said to loud applause. “Allow him to pursue this art without shame.”
It was Gibson who handed out the award to the Iron Man star. That was a choice Downey made clear he had made in part to help his friend rehabilitate his image.
Gibson has become something of an industry pariah in the wake of taped phone calls during which he had used racial slurs and threatened to beat his estranged girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. Prior to that, Gibson was already on thin ice with Hollywood, having made anti-Semitic remarks when he was arrested in 2006 for driving under the influence.
Gibson was dropped from a cameo in Hangover 2 after cast-members rebelled, although lately Warner Brothers has made a deal with the actor-director to explore an action film about a Biblical-era Jewish rebellion against oppressors. That too has drawn angry responses from Jewish leaders.
Downey, who had well-publicized bouts with drinking and drug abuse, said that by sticking up for Gibson, he was simply returning the favor. After his imprisonment and arrests on drug charges made him uninsurable and thus prevented him from being hired in Hollywood, it was Gibson who stepped up and paid his insurance bond on the 2003 film The Singing Detective.
“He kept a roof over my head and put food on my table,” Downey remembered. He said that all Gibson asked in return was that Downey do the same for another person who was struggling.
Robert Downey Jr - Mel Gibson - 25th Annual American Cinematheque Awards 2011
“It is reasonable to assume he didn’t know the next guy would be him,” Downey joked. In response, Gibson mockingly hit his head against the set.
It’s not clear if the gambit worked. Gibson’s appearance in a sketch video ribbing Downey for playing a white man pretending to be a black man in Tropic Thunder drew laughs, but some were of the uncomfortable variety.
Moreover, the Lethal Weapon star stuck close by his friend and fellow presenter Jodie Foster when he entered the hotel ballroom and remained affixed to her throughout the evening as if she were a bulwark against an unfriendly press and public.
However, as Downey has demonstrated, Hollywood loves a comeback. As Iron Man director Jon Favreau said of Downey at one point during the evening: “Not since Joseph in the Bible went from prison to prophecy has someone elevated themselves from so low.”
Source: The Wrap
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1 comments
There is no way I would even consider forgiving Mel Gibson. Because of misplaced hatred of one man, World War II began and we, as a nation, can never allow that to happen again. While I do not condone Hollywood’s acceptance of Roman Polanski, I do understand it. Polanski’s crime was committed against one young girl, not an entire group of people. While it was heinous in nature, it doesn’t come close to the deep-seeded hatred Gibson has for the Jewish people. I don’t understand how Gibson can expect to work with or for the very people he hates. What I really don’t understand though is how RDJ, a Jew married to a Jew, can ask for forgiveness for Gibson. Just because Gibson helped RDJ when he was down by giving him money is no reason to stand up for a man whose very beliefs go against the teachings of any religion. I’ll tell you, if RDJ were my husband, he’d be sleeping on the sofa!