Ari's Frustration Of The Day: Boycotting Mel Gibson Edition

Taking to heart the Hollywood maxim that "All that is required for the triumph of drunken, anti-Semitic movie star evil is that good superagents do nothing," Endeavor icon Ari Emanuel is using his platform over at the Huffington Post to rally the entertainment industry to take a principled stand against Mel Gibson:

At a time of escalating tensions in the world, the entertainment industry cannot idly stand by and allow Mel Gibson to get away with such tragically inflammatory statements. When The Passion of the Christ came out, Gibson was quoted as categorically denying any anti-Semitism attributed to him: "For me, it goes against the tenets of my faith, to be racist in any form. To be anti-Semitic is a sin. It's been condemned by one Papal Council after another. There's encyclicals on it, which is, you know — to be anti-Semitic is to be unchristian, and I'm not."
Now we know the truth. And no amount of publicist-approved contrition can paper it over. People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line.

There are times in history when standing up against bigotry and racism is more important than money.

All over town, agents, studio executives, and other power players are nervously eyeing one another, wondering if this indeed a time in history for standing up against bigotry and racism, or a time during which they can obtain the services of a $20-million-per-picture superstar at a heavily discounted rate. And after about five minutes of painfully searching the places where their souls used to be stored, the phones at ICM will start ringing off their hooks, as the feeding frenzy to give Gibson a chance to redeem himself for 20 percent of his usual quote begins.

The Bottom Line on Mel Gibson's Anti-Semitic Remarks [HuffPo]
Complete Mel Gibson Coverage [Defamer]

12:27 PM on Mon Jul 31 2006
By Mark
1,127 views
8 comments

Comments

BoHan at 11:41 AM on 07/31/06
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Connectedness Index: 149

At times like this, even we lapsed Catholics feel guilty.
valleyview at 11:44 AM on 07/31/06
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I wonder if Jeff Berg will fire Mel as a client. Ed Limato would never have it. If Mel made an equally offensive comment about black people, would it be different? I wonder where the line between cash and hypocrisy in Hollywood is truly drawn.
TedSez at 11:44 AM on 07/31/06
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Connectedness Index: 583

When Mel says:

"To be anti-Semitic is a sin. It's been condemned by one Papal Council after another. There's encyclicals on it, which is, you know -- to be anti-Semitic is to be unchristian, and I'm not."

What he's really saying is: Thinking antisemitic thoughts is wrong, so you shouldn't do it -- no matter how much you really, really want to.
King of All Hacks at 12:38 PM on 07/31/06
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Wow, a titan of an industry that thrives on the dehumanizing of underlings is outraged, OUTRAGED, by someone else's dehumanizing remarks.
Double Banger at 12:45 PM on 07/31/06
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I will make that pledge, Mr. Emanuel! I hereby promise that I will never personally hire Mel Gibson.

Unless, of course, he agrees to work under the SAG Experimental agreement, to which all my films are subject. I mean, who could pass that up?

But, other than that, I will never personally give Mel Gibson a million or bijillion dollars.

Now let's all go down to Marina Del Rey and dump boxes of Lethal Weapon DVDs into the harbor.
pseudopsych at 12:55 PM on 07/31/06
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Can we stand up against this ' I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry' movie? It's premise is so offensive, it makes 'Boat Trip' seem like a Logo Channel original!
mr hotpants at 03:36 PM on 07/31/06
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I have a whole new respect for this guy now...well done.
Jonny Bronson at 03:46 PM on 07/31/06
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Weekly Entourage/Real-Life Analysis:

Friday, 2am: Mel Gibson drives drunk, assigns blame for world conflict to Jews, sexually threatens police officers both male and female, etc.

Sunday, 7pm Eastern, 10pm Pacific: Ari Gold (Entourage character based on real-life Ari Emmanuel of Endeavor) battles with an anti-semitic agency partner, calling him a "Hitler-loving anti-semitic cuntbag."

Monday 10am-ish: Real-life agent Ari Emmanuel (ICM character inspired by Entrourage's Ari Gold) repeats the tirade and orders Gibson boycott. (No use of the word "cuntbag" as far as we know.)

Monday 3:45pm: I dictate this observation to my gay, asian assistant and ponder the meaning of all these parallels.