By Chris Kavan - 07/10/10 at 10:33 AM CT
Celebrities often suffer from the worst case of foot-in-mouth disease. Be it Christian Bale's instant meme-worthy Terminator Salvation rant at a hapless cinematographer or Alec Baldwin's vitriolic voicemail to his daughter - sometimes the mouth works before the mind can correct.
But while some rants are entertaining - some are much more damning. Mel Gibson's current situation, currently available at Radar Online, if proven correctly, can be one of those damning rants. Look no further than Michael Richards aka Kramer - when he flew into a racist tirade at a stand-up pretty much torpedoed any chance of a comeback. Sure, he parodied himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm, but does that even count?
Mel is a much bigger name, and he isn't a stranger to this phenomena. He's been accused of antisemitism and a misogynist. Somehow he overcame those and came up with Passion of the Christ along the way. Now, in an ugly battle with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, he can throw in racist to his list of failings.
Celebrities can bounce back from a lot of things - drugs, alcohol, money woes... but losing the public's trust and acceptance? Look no further than to the first major Hollywood scandal - that of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Though Arbuckle's case was a smear campaign, the public turned on him. Although he did make a comeback - he died in his sleep just after he signed a major deal. If he has lived, he probably would have been able to put the scandal behind him, but as it stands, his example is a major point at how public opinion can make or break a career.
Gibson - if he said what he said, he's got no one to blame but himself. Regardless of how things were going with his girlfriend, whether he knew he was being recorded or not, sometimes it's best to think before you speak.
