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Mel Gibson has long been held up as proof that cancel culture—the elastic term applied to situations in which people experience repercussions for their actions and statements at work or on the public square—is a myth. The actor and director, who has made headlines for a bigoted and sexist rant during a traffic stop, sexually violent and racist threats against an ex-girlfriend, and allegations of domestic violence, appeared to return to grace in recent years, when stars including Jodie Foster and Andrew Garfield rallied around him, as did the members of various awards bodies eager to honor him for well-reviewed film Hacksaw Ridge. And now he seems poised to topple the claim that Hollywood denizens who support Republican candidate Donald Trump will lose their careers. This week, the star made some surprising on-camera statements about the Democratic nominee for president Kamala Harris, strongly suggesting that he’d be voting for the man in the red hat.
It’s unfair even to Trump to assume that everyone who has made misogynistic statements, attacked Jewish people, or openly used racial slurs is a supporter of the former president. But setting aside Gibson’s conduct history—which we’ll get to in a moment—it seems he’s signaled his support for Trump in the past, when he appeared to react with dismay when Meryl Streep criticized the then-president from the 2017 Golden Globes. That signal grew stronger when Mel Gibson was approached by a photographer at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) this week.
In a video published by TMZ, a photographer who caught Gibson as he walked through the airport asked, “The president is being voted on in days, what’s your thoughts?”
“Oh man, that’s a big question,” Gibson responded with a grin. “I don’t think it’s going to surprise anyone who I vote for.”
“I’m going to guess Trump,” the photographer told Gibson. “Is that a bad guess?” “I think that’s a pretty good guess,” Gibson replied, without endorsing the Republican by name.
“What do you think the world would be like in a second [Trump] term,” the photographer asked Gibson, as he continued to walk through the terminal. “I know what it’ll be like if we let her in,” Gibson responded, with a peculiar emphasis on “her.” “And that ain’t good.”
At that point, Gibson slowed down to, it appears, make his point to the camera. “Appalling track record,” Gibson said of Harris. “No policies to speak of. And she’s got the IQ of a fence post.”
At that point, the video concludes, so it’s unclear if Gibson had words of praise for Harris’s opponent, or if he’s more driven by his distaste for the vice president.
Gibson, who during a 2006 DUI arrest announced that “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world!” was recorded seemingly admitting to an incident of domestic violence with the mother of one of his children in tapes released in 2010, saying then that “you fucking deserved it.”
“If you get raped by a pack of n—ers, it will be your fault,” he told her in a separate conversation from that time period, employing a racial slur against people of Black ethnic heritage.
Despite those scandals, Gibson has continued to work in Hollywood, but if Shazam! star Zachary Levi’s dark musings are correct, his implicit support of Trump might be his final undoing.
Levi, who announced his endorsement of Trump earlier this month, recently posted a wide-ranging video on Instagram in which he said—among other claims—that there are a number of actors who support the former president, but are afraid to say so publicly.
“There are plenty, and by the way, they’ve sent me lots of messages, plenty of people in my industry, in Hollywood, who are terrified to publicly say they would vote for Donald Trump or be conservative in any way,” Levi said. “That’s why you don’t see them. That’s why they’re not very prevalent or prominent. They know there’s ramifications for this kind of shit.”
“My cry to all of you out there, you closeted Trump voters, it’s now or never. Do whatever you feel like you need to do. If you need to come out publicly and say it, if you feel like you still can’t, then don’t. I would never pressure you to do that. But know that if what you’re afraid of is somehow the backlash of an industry that’s not going to exist very soon, then don’t let that hold you back.”
But while Levi and fellow actor Dennis Quaid have, indeed, spoken openly about their affection and support for Donald Trump, it’s not like Gibson managed to even say his name. Instead, he seemed to direct his passion toward tearing Harris down, a behavior that, given his past actions, seems part of a pattern that Hollywood seems comfortable with ignoring.
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Eve Batey
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