Along with news over the weekend that Mel Gibson had been stopped for drunk driving, allegations surfaced that he engaged in a long anti-Semitic tirade against the deputies who arrested him. “F*cking Jews,” he allegedly said. “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world,” he also said and then asked the officer, James Mee, “Are you a Jew?”

Gibson’s post-arrest response was predictable: “I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable.”

Given previous suspicions of his anti-Semitic views and his overly harsh depiction of Jews in “The Passion of the Christ,” I find his apology hard to believe–and find it more likely that he was revealing the truth of his feelings under the influence of alcohol.

This brouhaha could well put an end to his Hollywood career.

There are other controversies brewing over whether the deputies at first tried to cover up Gibson’s remarks, and also over why mainstream news outlets declined to initially report on Gibson’s tirade. I find the latter observation interesting in light of what’s going on in the Middle East right now.

Tags: anti-semitism, mel-gibson