Jason Momoa catches flak for posting photo with Mel Gibson
Jason Momoa just fanboyed out over Mel Gibson, but their encounter left some of the Aquaman star’s fans disappointed.
On Thursday, Momoa shared a few snapshots of himself hanging out with Gibson, as well as one of Momoa’s former Game of Thrones co-stars, Peter Dinklage. Momoa gushed in the caption that Gibson is an “ICON,” and he applauded the Braveheart actor and director for making his childhood “amazing,” with movies such as Mad Max and the Lethal Weapon series.
“Anything you need from me IM f***ING IN MEL,” he added.
As delighted as Momoa was to have encountered Gibson, and as much as many of his followers were to see it — it had more than 1.5 million likes late Friday — some who came across the photo were upset by it.
Gibson’s long been a controversial figure in Hollywood, having used racial, anti-semitic and misogynistic comments. In 2010, his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva accused him of physical abuse. Gibson eventually pleaded no contest to one count of misdemeanor spousal battery and completed his sentence of three years of probation, a year of domestic violence counseling and two days of community service. The conviction was vacated in 2014.
Since then, Gibson has continued to work in high-profile movies, such as the Sylvester Stallone-fronted action sequel The Expendables 3 in 2014 and, in 2017, the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy’s Home 2. In 2017, Gibson was nominated for an Oscar for directing the movie Hacksaw Ridge.
Commenters weighing in on Momoa’s phots with Gibson noted that the star’s comeback in showbiz doesn’t mean they’re OK with seeing him in their social media feeds.
“Sorry,” wrote @mari_vaughanmuth, “but I just can’t get past Mel’s unsavoury hateful rant.”
“This is SO incredibly wack and disappointing, especially given you are a man of color married to a woman of color. Mel is not only anti-Semitic, he has espoused words and beliefs that are insanely racist, misogynistic and homophobic,” @citizen.peace added.
Another user, @missdaisyb commented, “I hope he has changed and grown. I believe in second chances but his past behavior was horrible.”
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