Months after your DUI arrest, can you turn your back on it, and get on with your career? Well, probably, although it’s harder if you make anti-Semitic remarks whilst driving under the influence.
Oscar-winning actor and director Mel Gibson has met the conditions set by a court as punishment for his drink-driving arrest last year, his attorney has told a judge.
Gibson, 51, famously made anti-Semitic slurs when arrested in Malibu, California, in July 2006. He has since apologised publicly.
He pleaded no contest to drink-driving charges, was ordered to serve three years probation, pay $US1,400 ($1,700) in fines and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Gibson’s attorney Blair Berk appeared at the hearing in Malibu and presented a judge with documents showing the actor paid his fines, attended AA meetings and complied with his probation.
The judge told Mr Berk that Gibson must be present for his next hearing, which is scheduled for February 15, 2008.
For those of you bored of the DUI scandals around Lindsay, Paris and Nicole, get used to this kind of report. Somehow I can’t see them doing what Mel Gibson did, going home and keeping his mouth shut.
Of course, many are saying Mel’s career is over. Maybe it is, but I’m not sure about the career’s of Paris/Lindsay/Nicole? Is Mel’s career over because of his anti-Semitic comments, or his drunkeness?
The recent run of DUI’s has led to a potential law change in California.
The proposed legislation — which was requested by controversial Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, whose staff dealt with Gibson and Hilton — has outraged the Californian media.
California Newspaper Publishers Association lawyer Tom Newton said the measure would whittle away press freedoms for the convenience of celebrities.
“It’s the Paris Hilton and Mel Gibson Protection Act,” he told The Los Angeles Times.
“Fundamentally, it attempts to regulate news gathering and criminalise it.”
But proponents say outlawing celebrity leaks and punishing public employees who take cash from the media is a necessary move to restore faith in the state’s justice system after allegations of law enforcement officials providing prohibited information for cash.
Californian politician Julia Brownley, who introduced the Bill at Sheriff Baca’s request, said the digital media age and obsession with celebrity news made the law a necessity.
Maybe you could just factor in an ’embarassment factor’ to their sentence? Or ‘cost of career earnings’ factor? Then again, everyone has these factors in their court appearances. Also, when an exclusive interview is given about the incident, do celebrities get paid for it? I imagine that would take away some of the pain.
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