Gary Oldman Rails Against Alec Baldwin, Mel Gibson 'Hypocrisy'
We’ve noted the work of Playboy contributing editor David Hochman several times. Hochman is at it again in the pages of Hef’s magazine, garnering attention for his interview of actor Gary Oldman.
The Playboy Interview is to magazine Q&As what The Graham Norton Show is to celebrity talk show appearances. A place where the normal script is often very dramatically deviated from:
“Alec calling someone a F-A-G in the street while he’s pissed off coming out of his building because they won’t leave him alone. I don’t blame him. So they persecute. 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 — and doesn’t need to feed him anymore because he’s got enough dough. He’s like an outcast, a leper, you know?”
“But some Jewish guy in his office somewhere hasn’t turned and said, “That f*cking kraut” or “F*ck those Germans,” whatever it is? We all hide and try to be so politically correct. That’s what gets me. It’s just the sheer hypocrisy of everyone, that we all stand on this thing going, “Isn’t that shocking?”
A great majority of Vulture commenters are raining down on Oldman for these and other, related interview comments. Across the pond, the actor’s transcribed remarks are also, predictably, making major media waves.
Update (10:00 p.m.):
Deadline has Oldman’s response to criticism from the Anti-Defamation League over these excerpted Playboy comments. Here’s part of the actor’s statement:
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.
Update (June 26):
Oldman followed up, in the same apologetic vein, on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
