Gibson Wins Swayze Endorsement
It may not be the last word on Mel Gibson, but it is Patrick Swayze's word: The under-fire star is a "wonderful human being."
Swayze vouched for Gibson in a TV interview Monday for Britain's GMTV.
"He is not anti-Semitic," Swayze said of Gibson.
Swayze is the first cast member of Dirty Dancing to publicly voice support of Gibson. There was no word on when Jennifer Grey or Cynthia Rhodes might weigh in.
Gibson, 50, did not star in Dirty Dancing or any other movie with Swayze.
It was unknown what Swayze's endorsement would mean to Gibson's plunging poll numbers, although, in general, ex-Dirty Dancing stars have not been considered vital to the forming of public opinion.
To date, Jodie Foster is the most prominent Hollywood player to come to Gibson's defense in the wake of his July 28 drunken-driving arrest and reputed "f--king Jews" rant.
Foster, who worked with Gibson in Maverick, did not appear in Dirty Dancing, either, although it's entirely possible that she once caught some of it and/or Road House on cable.
As for Swayze's professional connection to Gibson, it appears to be limited to the 1988 Academy Awards, when both were presenters, according to a credits search of the Internet Movie Database.
Currently in London, thousands of miles away from the epicenter of the Gibson controversy, the 53-year-old Swayze expressed confidence that his Father Hood non-costar will preserver.
"When you are a pit bull, and you love what you do and you are going to continue to grow, that talent will find its way out," Swayze said to GMTV.
A pit bull is the nicest thing Gibson has been compared to since being branded an anti-Semite and bigot. Gibson, currently participating in "an ongoing program of recovery" for alcoholism, has apologized--twice--for his arrest-night behavior in Malibu. He faces two misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence.
Swayze himself faced scrutiny over a small-plane crash in 2000. Reports that alcohol was involved were branded untrue.
In other news on the Gibson front, an Australian newspaper has linked the star to what it describes as a "far right group notorious for its anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial."
Gibson campaigned for an Australian League of Rights candidate in 1987, the Herald Sun reported Sunday. The candidate, Rob Taylor, was said to be a friend of Gibson; Gibson was called "not a political animal" by one of the group's leaders.
Elsewhere, a legal challenge by TMZ.com seeking the release of the Gibson arrest-night video and audio tapes has been shot down by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the entertainment news Website said Monday.
Prosecutors have said the tapes will only be made public if the Gibson case goes to trial, and the clips are introduced as evidence.
TMZ.com is best known for breaking the details of the Gibson arrest.
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