Yesterday, we reported that Hollywood star Winona Ryder had accused Mel Gibson of hurling an anti-semitic joke at her in the 1990s, when he allegedly asked her if she was a Jewish “oven dodger.” Now, Gibson is firing back to deny her claims.
“This is 100% untrue,” Gibson’s rep told TooFab. “She lied about it over a decade ago, when she talked to the press, and she’s lying about it now. Also, she lied about him trying to apologize to her back then. He did reach out to her, many years ago, to confront her about her lies and she refused to address it with him.”
This came days after Ryder claimed that Gibson not only made the anti-Semitic joke, but also a homophobic quip to a friend who was with her at the time of the alleged incident.
“We were at a crowded party with one of my good friends, and Mel Gibson was smoking a cigar, and we’re all talking and he said to my friend, who’s gay, ‘Oh wait, am I gonna get AIDS?’ And then something came up about Jews, and he said, ‘You’re not an oven dodger, are you?’” Ryder told The Sunday Times. “I’d never heard that before. It was just this weird, weird moment. I was like, ‘He’s anti-Semitic and he’s homophobic.’ No one believed me!”
Ryder had initially made these claims in a 2010 GQ interview, and the details have not changed since then. After Gibson denied the allegations, Ryder released a statement to Fox News addressing the situation:
“I believe in redemption and forgiveness and hope that Mr. Gibson has found a healthy way to deal with his demons, but I am not one of them. Around 1996, my friend Kevyn Aucoin and I were on the receiving end of his hateful words. It is a painful and vivid memory for me. Only by accepting responsibility for our behavior in this life, can we make amends and truly respect each other, and I wish him well on this lifelong journey.”
Gibson has been accused of making anti-semitic comments in the past, most infamously during a DUI arrest back in 2006. Four years later, disturbing tapes emerged of him going on a deranged, racist tirade against his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.
This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.
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