NEED TO KNOW
- Jason Isaacs discussed his relationship with his The Patriot costar Mel Gibson in an interview with Vulture, following Gibson’s antisemitic rant in 2006
- Isaacs, who is Jewish, told the outlet that Gibson has “said and done some things that are unconscionable and unforgivable”
- Gibson issued a lengthy apology following the highly publicized incident, and revealed back in 2016 that he was 10 years sober
Jason Isaacs is shining light on where his relationship stands with Mel Gibson.
Twenty-five years after the two actors starred opposite one another in the 2000 historical action film The Patriot, Isaacs, 62, said in an interview with Vulture that Gibson, 69, has “said and done some things that are unconscionable and unforgivable,” leading him not to want to see his former costar.
“I was invited by my friend to some charity cricket event for Australians in film. And he said, ‘If you come, Mel will.’ And I said, ‘I don’t want to see Mel.’ I hadn’t seen him since that terrible antisemitic outburst when he got stopped by the police,” recalled Isaacs, who is Jewish.
Gibson faced intense scrutiny and public outrage in the wake of his 2006 arrest for drunk driving and a subsequent antisemitic rant.
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Isaacs ultimately decided to go to the charity event. As he recalled to Vulture, “Mel was there, and he called ‘Jace’ across the room, very friendly. I went, ‘Rabbi Gibson, how are we?’ ”
“He came up and he said, ‘I was really drunk, man. I was trying to get him to hit me or shoot me or something. I’m having a terrible time,’ ” continued the White Lotus star. “And he proceeded to unload some very personal things.”
After admitting of Gibson, “He’s not my friend,” Isaacs added, “but — maybe to my eternal shame — I forgave him instantly because he was there making himself vulnerable.”
PEOPLE is out to Gibson’s rep for comment.
Following his arrest in 2006, Gibson issued a lengthy apology for his remarks, which were detailed in the police report.
“There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge,” the Lethal Weapon star said in a statement.
“I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words,” continued Gibson, who began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the wake of his arrest. Back in 2016, he revealed he’d been sober for 10 years.
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Isaacs told Vulture that he doesn’t believe you can “forgive everything from everyone,” and clarified of his own feelings toward Gibson, “I’m not saying I forgive Mel.”
“I’ve seen him once a decade for five minutes. We text each other once in a blue moon about something or other,” the Harry Potter alum continued. “I don’t know what to do with the fact that he put a character into The Passion of the Christ which is essentially a Jewish demon that doesn’t exist in the gospels. I have no idea what to do about him.”
“But if he knocked on my door tonight and said, ‘Look, my hotel’s canceled. Can I stay?’ I’d say, ‘Yes,’ probably,” Isaacs added.
A rep for Gibson did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Monday, June 16.
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