Mel Gibson has apologized after footage of him appearing to mock an American Sign Language (ASL) translator went viral on social media.
The Lethal Weapon star, 70, was at FanExpo Canada in Toronto when the incident occurred.
In the footage that circulated online, Gibson can be seen being invited to take the stage to be interviewed. As he walks on, the ASL translator is stood directly in front of him signing for the crowd. Gibson mimics her hand gestures behind her back.
In a statement addressing the incident, Gibson told Variety: “Sometimes when you get pushed out on a stage in a spotlight your mind is all over the place, and sometimes spontaneous thoughtless idiocy is displayed.”
He added: “There was no intended maliciousness attached, and I certainly apologize to anyone who was upset by it.”
Gibson has a long history of controversial behavior. In 2006, he was arrested for drink-driving in Malibu and made a number of abusive and anti-semitic comments to police officers.
He subsequently apologized for his “despicable” comments.
In 2011, leaked phone calls between Gibson and his estranged former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva revealed several violence-threatening, sexist, and casually racist tirades the actor had launched against the mother of his then-nine-month-old daughter.
“You look like a f***ing pig in heat,” he was heard telling Grigoerieva. “If you get raped by a pack of n******, it will be your fault.”
In 2020, Winona Ryder alleged that Gibson made a string of homophobic and anti-semitic statements at a party they both attended.
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Ryder recounted the alleged remarks in an interview with The Sunday Times, saying: “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 newspaper that Gibson “tried” to apologize later on.
In a statement to The Independent at the time, Gibson’s representative Alan Nierob disputed Ryder’s account.
“This is 100 per cent untrue,” Nierob said. “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 apologise 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.”