Mel Gibson's Team Cuts Interview About New Film Short After Fox News Host Asks About Oscars Slap
Controversial actor Mel Gibson has been promoting his latest film Father Stu in which the 66-year-old actor plays the father of a "down on his luck" boxer played by Mark Wahlberg. It is set to release later this month.
To get the word out about his new flick's debut, Gibson appeared on FOX News where he had an incredibly strange split-screen interview.
Gibson was constantly looking off camera during the FOX News interview with a noticeably jittery demeanor swaying back and forth throughout the 6-minute clip.
But it was after Jesse Watters started asking a completely left field question about the recent Oscars - hypothetically putting Gibson in Will Smith's shoes - that really caused the actor to feel uncomfortable.
Waters asked, "If you had been the one to jump up out of his seat and slapped Chris Rock, would you be treated the same way." Before the actor even had a chance to respond a female voice could be heard on the broadcast claiming, "that is our time." Gibson could be seen lowing his head before the camera cutting away from the awkward exchange.
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The interview aired right around the time news broke of Smith's resignation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
It's possible Gibson and his team didn't want a soundbite about the slap to spread after actors such as Jim Carrey and Zoe Kravitz faced backlash over their own scandals being brought to light.
Gibson has had his own history of violence and social backlash having previously been accused of drunkenly abusing ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva leaving her to reportedly suffer years of PTSD.
The claims, along with reports of alleged sexist and anti-Semitic remarks towards an officer after being arrested back in 2006, have made the formerly beloved film actor a pariah in the entertainment industry - mostly working on his own films such as his 2017 directing venture Hacksaw Ridge which garnered Gibson a directing nomination from the Academy.
Father Stu is the first film to star Gibson from a major studio, Columbia Pictures, in almost five years since Daddy's Home 2 which he also appeared alongside Wahlberg as his character's father.