Mel Gibson was speaking to a film class at CSU Northridge last night when he reminded us all what a total prick he is. After the presentation, the crowd asked questions. An associate professor of Central American studies asked Gibson if he had read about the Mayan culture before shooting Apocalypto, and Gibson told her he had. The woman insisted that many of the film’s representations of the Mayans — like their participation in sacrifical ceremonies and the violent tendencies — were incorrect and racist. Gibson’s response: “Lady, fuck off.” Further, when emotional audience members of Mayan descent complained about how the film portrayed their culture, they were escorted out of the room, and Gibson screamed at them to “Make your own movie!”
Gibson’s publicist’s best excuse? “This person was a heckler who was rude and disrupted the event, so much so that the event organizers had to escort her out.” Which is totally, totally reasonable. First off, this woman really sounds like a “heckler.” “Boooo … you suck!!!!” Yeah, that’s exactly what she was all about. And, I mean, people who speak at universities are almost never challenged. Universities are, if nothing else, designed to be bastions of intellectual conformity — ideas and the presentation of ideas are never to be challenged in academic settings, and it’s quite typical for university speakers to cuss out those who dispute their work, rather than engage in a point-by-point discussion of the issue at hand. Hey, it’s pretty much exactly how Ann Coulter rose to the position of respect she holds among our nation’s great thinkers. Completely reasonable, Mel. We all would have done the same.
