Mel Gibson is one sorry movie star.
Three days after issuing a blanket apology to "anyone who I have offended" by his behavior during a drunken-driving arrest, Gibson issued a specific, 357-word apology to "everyone in the Jewish community."
"There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark," Gibson said in a statement Tuesday. "Please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot."
Gibson has been called both a bigot and anti-Semite after news spread of his reputedly bigoted, anti-Semitic tirade during last Friday's DUI bust. Chief among the offending remarks credited to Gibson was the observation that the "f--cking Jews" "are responsible for all the wars in the world."
On Saturday, Gibson addressed the alleged rant indirectly, noting that he "said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable." But while he apologized to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies who had to listen to him, he failed to apologize to the "f--king Jews."
As of Tuesday's statement, Gibson was asking for "one-on-one" talks with Jewish leaders to put him on the "path for healing."
"I am reaching out to the Jewish community," Gibson said. "I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed."
The embattled Oscar winner's new approach seemed to stanch the bleeding. Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham H. Foxman, who on Monday denounced Gibson as an "anti-Semite," "unremorseful" and a "bigot" accepted the actor/director's revised apology.
"We are glad that Mel Gibson has finally owned up to the fact that he made anti-Semitic remarks, and his apology sounds sincere," Foxman said in a statement. "We welcome his efforts to repair the damage he has caused, to reach out to the Jewish community, and to seek help."
In the wake of the drunken-driving arrest, Gibson, 50, said he was in an "ongoing program of recovery." The star has admitted to battling alcohol problems for years, and has claimed membership in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Once Gibson completes his latest round of rehab treatment, Foxman said his organization will help the Mad Max star with his "rehabilitation to combat this disease of prejudice."
Elsewhere on the fallout front, ABC will deny the Holocaust--to Gibson--pulling the plug on a miniseries he planned to produce about a Jewish woman in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II.
The project, announced in late 2005, moved back into the spotlight in light of Gibson's meltdown. As of early Monday, the network said the miniseries remained in development; as of late Monday, the network said the miniseries was dead, or at least its involvement in it was.
Officially, ABC said it was getting out of the Gibson business because, as a network representative told the New York Times, "it's been nearly two years and we have yet to see the first draft of a script."
Meanwhile, ABC's parent company, Disney, still remained in the Gibson business as of Tuesday, with the star's $60 million, all-Mayan action-adventure, Apocalypto, still on the film calendar for a Dec. 8 release.
In a rare good note for Gibson on Monday, Disney studio chief Oren Aviv told Slate.com that he accepted the star's apology--apparently the first one.
The Hollywood players quoted in Tuesday's Los Angeles Times, all of them Jewish, were not nearly as forgiving as Aviv. Sony Pictures exec Amy Pascal called it "incredibly disappointing that somebody of [Gibson's] stature would speak out that way." Mr. and Mrs. Smith producer Arnon Milchan called it "shocking" for Gibson to "make all of your money from Jews in Hollywood, and then have a few drinks and say you hate Jews." Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin said she didn't see a Gibson project in her future.
At International Creative Management, the top-tier talent agency that represents Gibson, chieftain Jeff Berg told the Times he hates what Gibson said, but added that he knows Gibson hates what he said, too.
"We're not going to back away from him in a moment of need," Berg said in the paper. "Our goal is to help him, not judge him."
Among those sitting in most severe judgment of Gibson are Barbara Walters, who said on Monday's View that she didn't "think I want to see any more Mel Gibson movies," and super agent Ari Emanuel, who called for a Hollywood boycott of the box-office giant.
Hollywood insiders have long viewed Gibson as an outsider, albeit a Malibu-based outsider, whose last film, The Passion of the Christ, was viewed by some as carrying an anti-Semitic message.
Then, as now, Gibson denied he harbored a hatred of Jews: "Hatred of any kind goes against my faith," he said Tuesday.
As Gibson scrambles to contain his self-made P.R. disaster, he rejects the notion he's scrambling to save his career.
"This is not about a film," the Gibson statement said. "This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It's about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad."
Gibson has a scheduled Sept. 28 court date. Prosecutors are likely to decide this week if he'll face any charges relating to the DUI arrest.