All week we’ve been talking about Gary Oldman’s douche explosion in a new Playboy interview. On Monday, the most offensive quotes were released through an exclusive with the Daily Mail, then Playboy hurried up and released the whole thing so we could read the offensive comments in context, but it didn’t make that much of a difference. Gary was not prodded into a weird position, his words were not taken out of context. He really defended Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin, he really used the n-word and “f-g” in the interview, and he really did talk about how Jews run Hollywood. Which seems almost quaint, because the new meme is that gay people run Hollywood, everybody knows that!!

Anyway, it’s the Jewish stuff that seems to have gotten Gary in the most trouble, which is just weird because I personally thought Gary offended African-Americans WAY more. But the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement yesterday to Deadline, which read in part:

“The British actor remarked that, ‘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.” The ADL says the remarks “irresponsibly feed into a classic anti-Semitic canard about supposed Jewish control of Hollywood and the film industry,” said ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman. “He should know better than to repeat and give credence to tired anti-Semitic tropes. Mel Gibson’s ostracization in Hollywood was not a matter of being ‘politically incorrect,’ as Mr. Oldman suggests, but of paying the consequences for outing himself as a bigot and a hater. It is disturbing that Mr. Oldman appears to have bought into Mr. Gibson’s warped and prejudiced world view.” Foxman adds that the assertion that Jews control Hollywood…”is an anti-Semitic stereotype based on the ‘Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,’ the 19th Century anti-Semitic forgery that suggested Jews conspire to control major industries such as banking and finance.”

[From Deadline]

I would argue that Mel Gibson’s “ostracization” wasn’t merely because he was and is a “bigot and a hater,” but also because he’s a violent, woman-beating misogynist. Why does Mel get a pass for that consistently? We don’t hate Mel because he just said a bunch of awful things. We also hate him because he beats, threatens and stalks women. Anyway, Gary issued an open letter to the ADL, via Deadline:

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.

[From Deadline]

I chuckled at “Shalom Aleichem” – nice touch, Gary. Gary Oldman: what a mensch!! I take Gary at his word that he’s sorry for what he said, but I still think A) he has more apologizin’ to do because he offended more groups than just the ADL and B) Oldman still has to grovel for a few more weeks/months. He needs to go on a Jonah Hill-style apology tour.

Oh, and TMZ spoke to Mel Gibson’s original arresting officer back in 2006. Guess what? The police officer is Jewish and has never said anything anti-Semitic in his life. Amazing.

Photos courtesy of WENN.