It only seemed liked yesterday that Jonah Hill was publically apologising for throwing an off the cuff, yet hurtful term to a paparazzi. An...
It only seemed liked yesterday that Jonah Hill was publically apologising for throwing an off the cuff, yet hurtful term to a paparazzi. And now, Gary Oldman is also being dragged over the coals, for some of the things he said in a Playboy interview. The Anti-Defamation League has accused the actor of spreading anti-Semitic stereotypes. Read below some of the parts that have caused some people to get very upset.
"I don't know about Mel. He got drunk and said a few things, but we've all said those things. We're all f**king hypocrites. That's what I think about it. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word 'n***er' or 'that f**king jew'? I'm being brutally honest here. It's the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy. Or maybe I should strike that and say 'the N word' and 'the F word', though there are two F words now."
“Mel Gibson is in a town that’s run by Jews and he said the wrong thing because he’s actually bitten the hand that I guess has fed him – and doesn’t need to feed him any more because he’s got enough dough. He’s like an outcast, a leper, you know? “
"But some Jewish guy in his office somewhere hasn’t turned and said, 'That f---ing kraut' or 'F--- those Germans', whatever it is? We all hide and try to be so politically correct. That’s what gets me. It’s just the sheer hypocrisy of everyone; that we all stand on this thing going, 'Isn’t that shocking?'"
“At the Oscars, if you didn't vote for 12 Years a Slave, you were a racist. You have to be very careful about what you say. I do have particular views and opinions that most of this town doesn't share, but it's not like I'm a fascist or a racist. There's nothing like that in my history...”
"Alec calling someone an F-A-G in the street while he's pissed off coming out of his building because they won't leave him alone. I don't blame him."
"If I called Nancy Pelosi a c**t - and I'll go one better, a f**king useless c**t - I can't really say that. But Bill Maher and Jon Stewart can, and nobody's going to stop them from working because of it. Bill Maher could call someone a f*g and get away with it. He said to Seth MacFarlane this year, 'I thought you were going to do the Oscars again. Instead they got a lesbian.' He can say something like that. Is that more or less offensive than Alec Baldwin saying to someone in the street, 'You f*g'? I don't get it."
"Oh, f**k the pope! So this interview has gone very badly. You have to edit and cut half of what I've said, because it's going to make me sound like a bigot.
It’s the Mel Gibson comment that really started the ball rolling. Surely, this is another example of things being taken out of context.Some think Oldman is defending Gibson (for something Gibson said EIGHT years ago) but reading the comments above, it’s simply observational. As for the F-A-G comment that does seem a bit bizarre, but Oldman seems to be highlighting the frustrations that Baldwin had. Rightly or wrongly, whatever Alec Baldwin allegedly said, he has been hounded for quite some time as the Paps know he has a short fuse and they know they’ll get a reaction at some point.
Reading over these comments time and time again, Oldman has being really taken to task on observations. He’s not inciting hatred. But as per usual, certain groups and people jump on the biggest band wagon they can find and attempt to take somebody down. We’re living in a world that is incredibly politically correct, where now people can’t make observations without being accosted for it. Slurs are thrown around constantly. Go to any school yard in the world and kids are hurling every homophobic and racial slur at each other. That doesn’t make it right. It’s wrong. Obviously. What would their parents say? That’s probably where they heard it in the first place. But Mom and Dad would never utter those words outside of their four walls, because it’s a horrible thing to do. There is the hypocrisy. Anyway, I digress.
Subsequently, Oldman wrote a letter to the ADL
"Dear Gentlemen of the ADL:
"I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people. Upon reading my comments in print - I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter.
"If, during the interview, I had been asked to elaborate on this point I would have pointed out that I had just finished reading Neal Gabler's superb book about the Jews and Hollywood, An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews invented Hollywood. The fact is that our business, and my own career specifically, owes an enormous debt to that contribution.
"I hope you will know that this apology is heartfelt, genuine, and that I have an enormous personal affinity for the Jewish people in general, and those specifically in my life. The Jewish People, persecuted thorough the ages, are the first to hear God's voice, and surely are the chosen people.
"I would like to sign off with "Shalom Aleichem"—but under the circumstances, perhaps today I lose the right to use that phrase, so I will wish you all peace - Gary Oldman."
And he has apologised, publically on Jimmy Kimmell (see the video below). It’s insane that these kinds of things get the attention that they get. Accusations flying left, right and centre and in my opinion they are very, very unfounded. Again I go back to the point of where is Oldman inciting hatred? You’ll be hard pushed to find it. However, you’ll find plenty of hatred elsewhere, much of it directed at the actor. Unjustifiably. Sadly, people jump on this bandwagon, taking other individuals and groups comments as gospel. Many people have got so little else to do with their lives that they now think Oldman is anti-Semitic. They’ve never read the Playboy interview, they haven’t even read the comments online. Instead they just hear it from someone, who heard it from someone else and before you know it people will convince others that Oldman is a Nazi or Christ knows what else. These self righteous, moral high ground types who constantly scream for political correctness are the ones who are politically incorrect. Sure, if someone is inciting hatred and what not, hang them high. But pulling apart an interview, desperately clutching at straws and making something out of observational comments, don’t just give me a break, give us all a break.
