The blog search engine Technorati, which currently reports tracking 50 million blogs, lists Mel Gibson as the number one blog subject being searched on Monday. You can see in this graph how the interest in the actor increased over the weekend after it became known that Gibson was arrested in Malibu early on Friday for driving under the influence.

Posts that contain "Mel Gibson" per day for the last 30 days.


What really fueled interest online was when the celebrity news website TMZ.com published portions of the arresting deputy's hand-written report saying Gibson, 50, was abusive, shouted anti-Jewish slurs, attempted to escape from custody and boasted that he "owned Malibu."

It was not that Gibson was drunk or speeding that upset bloggers as much as his alleged anti- Semitic rant following the arrest for drunken driving. In many of the blogs, comments that were later reportedly expunged from the official report and not revealed in a statement to the press, have Gibson telling his arresting officer "Fucking Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?"

Over the weekend Gibson, who is a Catholic, issued a statement apologizing for his behavior "I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested and said things I do not believe to be true and which are despicable," Gibson said. "I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse."

Jewish leaders on Monday rejected the actors apology as insufficient. For some time, there has been accusations of that Gibson’s hit movie "The Passion of the Christ" had anti-semitic elements, which are now bubbling up to the surface again. All this is bad news for Gibson’s future career. The Los Angeles Times reported that Disney was considering withdrawing from distributing Gibson's upcoming film Apocalyto because of the fallout from the incident. What’s more, a proposed Holocaust project that Gibson's company was producing for the Disney-owned TV network ABC was also in doubt, Variety reported.

Related Link:
http://www.tmz.com/2006/07/28/gibsons-anti-semitic-tirade-alleged-cover-up