Gary Oldman is super sorry he spewed racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic ugliness all over a recent Playboy interview.
Is Gary Oldman a racist jerk or simply misunderstood? He insists it is the former.
After railing against Jews, “fags” and hypocrisy while defending Mel Gibson’s infamous DUI rant in a recent Playboy interview, the actor is trying to backtrack. But is it too little, too late?
In a letter directed to the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center obtained by Deadline, Oldman explains.
“I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people,” the actor said. “Upon reading my comments in print — I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter. If, during the interview, I had been asked to elaborate on this point I would have pointed out that I had just finished reading Neal Gabler’s superb book about the Jews and Hollywood, An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews invented Hollywood. The fact is that our business, and my own career specifically, owes an enormous debt to that contribution.”
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“I hope you will know that this apology is heartfelt, genuine, and that I have an enormous personal affinity for the Jewish people in general, and those specifically in my life. The Jewish People, persecuted thorough (sic) the ages, are the first to hear God’s voice, and surely are the chosen people,” Oldman continued.
“I would like to sign off with ‘Shalom Aleichem’ — but under the circumstances, perhaps today I lose the right to use that phrase, so I will wish you all peace.”
Tl;dr: Sorry, you didn’t like what he said, but he just read this book that proves he’s right. Not much of an apology.
Oldman’s statement was in response to a severe blasting from the ADL yesterday.
“Gary Oldman wants Jews to ‘get over’ what Mel Gibson said,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “But what Gibson said was the slogan that Adolf Hitler used to murder six million Jews during the Holocaust. His own comment that Hollywood is a town ‘run by Jews’ has a very familiar sinister ring to it that is the anthem of bigots and anti-Semites everywhere. That has nothing to do with political correctness.”
Oldman’s latest film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is due out on July 11, and promotional activities are just about to gear up.
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