Forgiving Gibson

I had a feeling that this editorial I wrote for Paste Magazine about Mel Gibson, Blood Father, Hacksaw Ridge, his 2006 anti-Semitic rant, and forgiveness would be met with despondent or apathetic reactions, and based on the few comments that have been posted already, it seems I was right. Sorry. I meant to have a draft on this piece delivered to my editor the week of Hacksaw Ridge‘s release in hopes of having it on the site before the election. Here we are now, and the piece went up yesterday. Mea culpa. If this hurts you, please know that that wasn’t the goal.

But the question of forgiveness is an important one, especially now, and so I think the piece is still valuable, perhaps more so. I’m not sure if I “forgive” Gibson for his abuses, but I’m willing to welcome him back to work and enjoy his movies again. (As noted in the piece, Blood Father and Hacksaw Ridge are both pretty good.) I certainly will always remember those abuses, and that’s not nothin’.