'What is wrong with Hollywood?': Twitter reacts to the news Mel Gibson is directing 'The Wild Bunch'
On the day the Bill Cosby sentencing hearing began and #BelieveSurvivors protests against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh were held across the country, Warner Bros. announced that Mel Gibson will co-write and direct a remake of The Wild Bunch. The news did not go over well with people on Twitter.
Gibson has long been at the center of controversy, making disparaging comments about gays, blacks, and Jews (for which he was blacklisted in Hollywood for almost a decade). Not to mention that he was convicted of battering his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, with whom he had a child, once telling her he hoped she got “raped by a pack of n****ers.” But thanks to his friends in high places — like Robert Downey Jr. and Jodie Foster, who advocated for forgiveness for Gibson — he was given another chance and has been working throughout this decade.
However, in this era of reckoning, people weren’t receptive to his new job announcement. Many — like comedian and actress Sarah Silverman — don’t think his anti-Semitic comments should ever be forgotten.
Here's Hollywood for you- day country is protesting having a sexual predator on the supreme court, Mel Gibson, a violent domestic abuser, gets a new writing a directing gig.https://t.co/PhHudt9E9W
— Melissa Silverstein (@melsil) September 24, 2018
Mel Gibson admitted to domestic violence, repeatedly used racial epithet's on tape, and has a history of making anti-semitic statements. Meanwhile there are a long list of women in entertainment who don't have careers anymore simply because they were labeled "difficult" by men. https://t.co/1geCg9EmfF
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) September 24, 2018
Mel Gibson is ok to direct film, Cosby gonna get a plush less than 3 yrs in jail & Brett Kavanaugh is gonna be a supreme court justice. Don't try and convince me people believe women. Because these are just a few of stories being UNHEARD & NOT CARED ABOUT #IBelieveSurvivors
— Jay Washington (@MrJayWashington) September 24, 2018
If Mel Gibson was the only surgeon on the planet who could save people from a deadly disease, sure, fine, he can have a second chance.
There are about 50,000 people (women! POC! domestic violence VICTIMS) who can make a good movie.
We do not need his art.— Jessica Ellis (@baddestmamajama) September 24, 2018
Mel Gibson has made so many sexist, anti-semitic, and misogynist comments in the past that Donald Trump wants to nominate him for a seat on the Supreme Court.
— JRehling (@JRehling) September 24, 2018
No Jews in the Wild Bunch this time around, I guess https://t.co/8ZDzPnimqf
— Mark Berman (@markberman) September 24, 2018
who the holy hell thought it was a good idea to put anti-Semite and woman abuser Mel Gibson in movies again? 🤨 There is nothing a white man in this country can do that is irredeemable pic.twitter.com/pX3pSzryna
— Petty_Shabazz ✊🏾 (@a_for2day) September 24, 2018
speaking of comebacks we never needed and never asked for https://t.co/iHssODciZI
— Paige Lavender (@paigelav) September 25, 2018
Dear Mel Gibson Apologists: Alcoholism does not cause racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism. But it does help reveal it.
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) September 25, 2018
I'll just say I'd be fine not seeing another Mel Gibson movie ever again. He doesn't deserve an arms open comeback. Yeah, he's talented. There's a multitude of talented people though. He's not so special he gets a pass on being human sewage.
— Austin Shinn (@untitleduser) September 25, 2018
Asians in August: We love Warner Brothers for releasing Crazy Rich Asians!
Warner Brothers in September: We just hired Mel Gibson to do a remake of the Wild Bunch!
Asians: pic.twitter.com/cR7PqnjKA8
— teresa lo (@teresalo_tweets) September 25, 2018
I dunno, maybe Mel Gibson is the perfect person to remake a classic about about damaged and sadistic men who’ve been permanently kicked out of polite society, who wander the earth looking for purpose in a world that no longer has use for them.
— Matt Prigge (@mattprigge) September 24, 2018
This writer, however, did point out that Gibson has been working steadily in recent years.
Why is every new Mel Gibson project treated as if it is the first thing he’s done since he disgraced himself? He’s been doing projects for a while now.
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) September 24, 2018
And he has been getting work — Gibson has made approximately one film a year since 2010. He has two in the works for next year (The Professor and the Madman and Boss Level) and then three more, including this new one, with no dates attached. According to Variety, he’s also trying to get his World War II film Destroyer, with Mark Wahlberg attached to star, into production.
As for The Wild Bunch, which will be co-written by Bryan Bagby, it’s unclear if it will be a straight remake of the Sam Peckinpah Western — or if they want to reinvent it.
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