Patrick Swayze and Jodie Foster have spoken out in support of Mel Gibson after the troubled actor’s drunken, anti-Semitic rant made after the L.A. Sheriff’s Department arrested him for DUI on Friday, July 28.
According to Swayze, Gibson is “a wonderful human being (who) is not anti-Semitic.”
According to Gibson’s tirade, well, that’s another story.
Blaming Gibson’s problem with alcohol, Swayze told Britain’s GMTV that the recent incident is not indicative of the man he knows.
“People say stupid things when they happen to have a few, and especially if you don’t drink anymore, or have limited your drinking for a long time and all of a sudden you decide to have one too many with the boys — you are stupid,” Swayze said.
Gibson, 50, has twice apologized for his remarks. He was officially charged last week with two misdemeanor counts of driving while intoxicated and has enlisted criminal defense attorney Blair Berk, who previously has represented high-profile clients such as Paul Reubens, Cameron Diaz, Lindsay Lohan and Queen Latifah.
“Talent deserves to be honored. Hands deserve to be slapped if you do something stupid as well, but don’t take it too far,” Swayze added.
Translation: If you are a rich, talented actor and director, people should just back off after awhile! Geez!
Foster, meanwhile, told the Los Angeles Times that she does not believe that Gibson’s drunkenness excuses hurtful remarks, but at the same time, her colleague is not an anti-Semite.
“Is he an anti-Semite? Absolutely not. But it’s no secret that he has always fought a terrible battle with alcoholism,” Foster said.
Dean Devlin, a friend who had spent the afternoon before the arrest with Gibson, echoed that sentiment.
“I have been with Mel when he has fallen off, and he becomes a completely different person. It is pretty horrifying,” he said. “If Mel is an anti-Semite, then he spends a lot of time with us, which makes no sense. But he is an alcoholic, and while that makes no excuse for what he said, because there is no excuse, I believe it was the disease speaking, not the man.”