Radar Online editor David Perel was on The View yesterday to discuss the Mel Gibson tapes that his company has so expertly leaked over the past few weeks. Perel didn’t explain where Radar got the tapes exactly, but said they were not paid for and were obtained after a lot of hard work and research on Radar’s part. He said “no money has changed hands” despite the fact that they would have gladly paid to license audio and photos.

He also explained how he landed that on-the-spot but set-up looking interview where Oksana claimed that Mel was trivializing domestic violence – they had people following her for days and were fighting off other paparazzi on the scene to get a statement. When Whoopi started going after Perel for leaking the tapes instead of going to the police he understandably got a little flustered and said simply that the police already had all that evidence well before they published it. According to Perel they of course notified the police, who already had the tapes and photos, and asked for comment. I found Perel very matter-of-fact and believable and am team Radar after watching this. Here’s Radar’s report and you can also watch the video above and on their site:

Behar first asked Perel how RadarOnline.com obtained the tapes that by now, everyone has heard.

“That’s the question everybody asks,” Perel said. “A lot of hard digging, good reporters, good editors and it took a long time.”

Asked if RadarOnline.com forked over cash for the tapes, Perel responded, “No we have not, we have not paid for them … no money has changed hands.”

Perel said the Web site dug deep into the story, which started with restraining orders from both camps, and continued mushrooming as more details sprang forth.

Shepherd asked how we acquired the world exclusive interview with Oksana Grigorieva last week in the parking lot of a Southern California grocery store, to which Perel responded was the result of persistent efforts to interview the former girlfriend of Gibson.

“Finally, we got her at the grocery store,” Perel said. “Finally, and this is what you don’t see, is that behind our Senior Executive Editor Dylan Howard, there’s two cameramen trying to get in there, and he’s keeping them out.”

Goldberg then asked Perel why the Web site published the sensitive information.

“Because it’s a news story, because it’s a celebrity that’s involved in a criminal investigation,” Perel said. “This is reporting the news, that’s what we do, this is an entertainment news Web site. We go out, we report stories and as you know, this was picked up by every major network.”

When asked if he felt Grigorieva tried to set Gibson up, Perel said, “it doesn’t seem to be supported by the evidence.”

[From Radar Online]

One thing that Radar left out in their report above is that Whoopi was poo-pooing over the fact that Oksana didn’t go to the police immediately and went back to Mel after the alleged abuse incident on January 6. Perel explained that many victims return to their abusers after an incident of domestic violence, and Joy tried to back him up. (Whoopi previously defended Mel on several occasions after the tapes came out, and said she knew Mel and he wasn’t racist. She also questioned Oksana’s motivation in allegedly releasing the tapes.)

Whoopi got indignant and also asked stupidly “Did you see it [the abuse] happen?.” He countered that they put the evidence out there for people to judge and that “there were three people in the room.” It’s unclear whether he meant Oksana’s son or just Oksana, Mel and baby Lucia. Earlier reports from Radar claim that Oksana’s son Sacsha, 12, was a witness.

As for why he released the photo of the baby allegedly bruised by Mel, Perel said “If somebody hit a woman while she was holding a baby and it’s a child abuse investigation that’s news, especially if it’s a public figure. It’s pretty outrageous. Her allegations are extremely serious.” He explained that the photos were part of the official investigation and their release was not sanctioned by Oksana.

On whether there are more tapes of Mel going off, Perel said there’s a little more and they’ll publish it. He previously told Howard Stern that they have a full 30 minutes of audio of Mel going off.

Yesterday Radar published even more of Mel’s messages to Oksana. He wrote an e-mail to her on the day after the abuse saying, in part, “The tranqullizers (sic) only make me nuts.” Whatever happened to Mel, he doesn’t seem to be sane or sober.

The question is – did Oksana or her sister or agent leak the tapes? As I’ve said before, given the content does it matter? It sounds like a police source may have released them, though we’ll probably never know.

As I was writing this yet another Mel Gibson story came out on Radar and included the detail that Gibson’s son William, 25, is said to have tried to talk Mel down after a crazed incident against Oksana we heard about yesterday in which he reportedly threw a TV at her and missed. Yesterday Radar also reported on Oksana’s claim that Mel hit his then nine year-old son, Tommy, in the head about two years ago, making the boy cry. I’m sure there’s more to come but I don’t know if I’ll be able to tolerate much more news about this creep.