Mel Gibson is promoting his first film in eight years, but are people ready to forgive the actor for his drunken remarks in a drunk driving arrest in 2006? INSIDE EDITION reports.
Mel Gibson, talking about his big screen comeback at the premiere of his first movie in eight years, said, "I'm not nervous. I don't get nervous anymore. It just is what it is."
With him is his girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, who had their love child just three months ago. The 54-year-old star is hoping movie-goers will overlook the controversies surrounding him and pay hard-earned cash to see Edge of Darkness.
A reporter asked Gibson, "You said recently you were hoping that they'd give you a second chance. Is that the way you feel?" Gibson replied, "I didn't say that. What do you mean second chance. I've been working non-stop."
Gibson is on a PR blitz. He's been on Good Morning America, where he said, "The most difficult thing about all of that is being able to forgive yourself."
And last night on The Jay Leno Show, Gibson said, "My business partner says this about me. You'll meet Mel at least twice, the second time when he apologizes."
It's an effort to repair his image damaged by that anti-semitic rant following his drunk driving arrest in 2006, when he told a cop, "(expletive deleted) Jews. Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
"If you really want to punish him, you don't go to see his movie," said Joy Behar on The View Wednesday.
And columnist Roger Friedman goes farther in The Hollywood Reporter says, "Gibson is a racist and anti-semite. He's also a drunk, a liar and a philanderer. His father is a famous holocaust denier. He also disavows the Pope. Mel Gibson hasn't changed. Neither has his father. Let's not reward them."
Host Ricky Gervais joked about Gibson's drinking at the Golden Globe Awards, saying, "I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is Mel Gibson," and Gibson went along, even pretending to be drunk. Only this weekend's box office receipts will show if moviegoers have forgiven him.
