This report on TMZ.com is terrible news for Mel Gibson, even though he was apparently loaded when it happened. Gibson reportedly lost his temper and became belligerent after he was arrested Friday on suspicion of drunk driving, and thereafter, a hand-written deputy’s report says, spewed anti-Semitic epithets. TMZ has obtained what is alleged to be four pages of the original report, written by L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy James Mee, the arresting officer.
TMZ is also reporting that the L.A. County Sheriff’s department had the initial report edited to keep the real story suppressed. (TMZ’s report says that “sources say Mee was told Gibson’s comments would incite a lot of ‘Jewish hatred,’ that the situation in Israel was ‘way too inflammatory.’ It was mentioned several times that Gibson, who wrote, directed, and produced 2004’s The Passion of the Christ, had incited ‘anti-Jewish sentiment’ and ‘for a drunk driving arrest, is this really worth all that?’ TMZ was told that Deputy Mee was then ordered to write another report, leaving out the incendiary comments and conduct. Sources say Deputy Mee was told the sanitized report would eventually end up in the media and that he could write a supplemental report that contained the eliminated information — a report that would be locked in the watch commander’s safe.)
The most damning section of Mee’s alleged original report claims that Gibson “launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements. One tirade, the report says, went as follows: ‘F***ing Jews…the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson then asked Deputy Mee, “Are you a Jew?”
I didn’t mention this initially because it sounds so incongruous and insensitive alongside the anti-Semitic comments, but there’s one small upside for Gibson in this whole mess — i.e., reportedly having said to a female police sergeant as he was brought into the station “What are you looking at, sugar tits?” I’m sorry but that’s funny.
The way people tend to process these incidents, I suspect they’re going to boil the Gibson thing down to the basics and consider the Big Inflammables as a simplistic side-by-side equation — “Jews responsible for all the wars” vs. “sugar tits.” Bad Jews vs. sugar tits…see? Sugar tits is funnier. Spin the racial venom as the unfortunate ravings of a guy who had too much to drink (haven’t we all said or done something terrible or idiotic when we’ve had too much to drink?) and “sugar tits” becomes a joke for Bill Maher, Jay Leno, David Letterman, etc.