Mel Gibson calls Robert Downey Jr. “bold and generous” for urging Hollywood to forgive him

Mel Gibson recently opened up about his longtime friend Robert Downey Junior. and praised him for being “bold, generous and kind” for urging Hollywood to forgive him after his infamous arrest in 2006 after he made anti-Semitic remarks. Gibson’s Hollywood career took a nosedive after everything went south.

Gibson and Downey Jr. starred together in the film Air America, and speaking about his experience Gibson said in an interview with Esquire: “Once, I found myself in a bit of a difficult situation that ended my career. I was drunk in the back of a cop car and said some bullshit, and all of a sudden: blacklisted.

He continued, “I’m Canceled’s poster boy. A couple of years later [Robert] he invited me to some kind of prize he was receiving: we always had this kind of seesaw, where if he was on the cart, I fell, and if I was on the cart, he fell. So I was basically nonexistent in Hollywood at the time, and he stood up and spoke for me. It was a courageous, generous and kind gesture. I loved him for that.”

I don’t blame people for being pissed at Gibson for his comments. He said some terrible things. To this day, when I post about Gibson, I get comments from people telling me how much they hate him.

During Downey’s speech at the 2011 American Cinematheque Awards ceremony, where the actor received the annual award, he used his time to speak on Gibson’s behalf. He asked Hollywood to join him in “forgiving my friend his transgressions, offering [Gibson] the same clean slate you gave me and allowing him to shamelessly continue his great and ongoing contribution to our collective art.

Downey went on to say, “Unless you’re completely without sin, in which case you picked the wrong fucking industry,” then you should consider giving Gibson a second chance.

As you know, Gibson knows what it’s like to hit rock bottom and then get a second chance. In 1996 he was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded gun and was given three years of probation.

He was subsequently sent to prison for nearly four months a year later after missing a court-ordered drug test. He missed another test in 1999 and was sentenced to three years in prison. Downey served 15 months, then was arrested again four months after his release for drug possession.

Then Jon Favreau AND David Maisel came along and gave Downey his big chance with Iron Man, and his life has changed ever since.

Downey Jr. was former Marvel Studios president David Maisel’s top pick and said that “my board thought I was crazy to put the future of the company in the hands of a drug addict.” He added: “I helped them understand how good he was for the role. We all had faith that he was clean and that he would stay clean.”

Gibson’s career never returned to its peak following his arrest. But he continued to work as an actor and director, and one of the best things he made in recent years was the 2016 World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge, which earned him an Oscar nomination for best director.