Last year at the Indie Spirit Awards, hosts Nick Kroll and John Mulaney got the heart of the controversy around Mel Gibson that has never quite gone away.
“People wondered: how long would it take Hollywood to forgive someone for anti-semitic, racist hate speech?” Kroll asked, to which Mulaney answered, “Eight years! So look out for the 2024 Oscars, when the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award goes to Mr. Steve Bannon.”
It was a pretty devastatingly great joke, but one with a lot of truth in it. It’s easy to forget that it was not that long ago, when the NAACP issued a statement saying Gibson’s apologies for his behavior was “insufficient given his history of racism, sexism and anti-Semitism. No amount of words will change his image as an out of date and out of control racist. Only [with] a sustained period of positive acts can his legacy be redeemed.”
Yet, Gibson has been welcomed back into the industry almost without question. A handful of B-movies paved the way, and last year, “Hacksaw Ridge” was nominated for six Oscars (including Best Director for Mel Gibson), and won two. This fall, Gibson will star in the mainstream, studio family comedy “Daddy’s Home 2” with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. Now, Warner Bros. is considering bringing back the biggest franchise of the actor’s career.
Gibson, Danny Glover and Richard Donner are all pondering a reunion for “Lethal Weapon 5.” Channing Gibson (“Lethal Weapon 4,” “Walking Tall“) would pen the script, with Donner directing his first movie in over decade (his last flick was the Bruce Willis vehicle “16 Blocks“).
Dads across the land are probably super stoked by this news, and they’ve already rewarded the brand, with the TV series reboot starting its second season this fall. For everyone else hoping Hollywood would make some hard charges within the industry when it comes to working with with men who behave badly, this news is sure to disappoint. [Deadline]