In the old days, I used to interview a great many celebrities. Before meeting them, my biggest concern wasn’t whether they’d make good copy, but whether they’d turn out to be oafs. What if I didn’t like, say, Fred Astaire, Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, and Ginger Rogers? What if they didn’t like me? I ran the risk of having a dozen of my all-time favorite movies ruined forever. That, for me, was the upside of the Gibson affair. I was never a fan.
In conclusion, let me simply say that I can forgive him his tacky behavior, and even the hateful things he said. He’s just an actor, after all. He makes movies, not national policy.
But I can’t ever find it in my heart to forgive him for his “Mrs. Soffel” and “Lethal Weapon 4.”