When Drudge reported Mel Gibson’s arrest for a DUI the other day, I responded, “So the hell what?” The same response I have whenever a celebrity or politician is caught doing something like that. It’s not that it doesn’t matter; just like any other citizen, they deserve to pay the consequences for their mistakes. But when joe Warehouse worker gets caught driving drunk, he doesn’t see his name on the front page of newspapers or on the internet for everyone to see.

It just seems a bit much for me to care about.

But if this report of what Gibson was saying is accurate, then his career is well (and appropriately) screwed. Want to bet that Apocalypto tanks because of this? It was already a tough sell, but this could incite a serious backlash.

Once inside the car, a source directly connected with the case says Gibson began banging himself against the seat. The report says Gibson told the deputy, “You mother f****r. I’m going to f*** you.” The report also says “Gibson almost continually [sic] threatened me saying he ‘owns Malibu’ and will spend all of his money to ‘get even’ with me.”

The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: “F*****g Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson then asked the deputy, “Are you a Jew?”

The report paints, even outside of the nasty anti-Semitism, a seriously ugly portrait of the drunken star. He’s abusive, angry, and pathetic.

This isn’t one of those incidents that an actor can easily recover from; this is one of those things that loses friends, business partners, and audience. Aside from that, it shows a side of Gibson that deserves all the scorn we can muster.

Read the rest.

Update: The Ace view. The Malkin view.

Update 2: Mel issues a speedy public apology. Combined with the controversy around Passion of the Christ, though, and the truly hateful things that he said, I can’t imagine that forgiveness will come that easy.