Mel Gibson to testify against Harvey Weinstein in L.A. sexual assault trial

A judge ruled today that Mel Gibson can be called to testify against Harvey Weinstein in the latter’s ongoing Los Angeles trial for rape, Variety reports. The prosecution seeks to call Gibson to testify in support of accusations from a woman identified as Jane Doe 3, a masseuse who says she told Gibson, mid-massage, about Weinstein sexually assaulting her in 2010.

Judge Lisa B. Lench also ruled that the defense in the trial is not allowed to ask Gibson about… Well, about all the things you would probably try to ask Mel Gibson about, were you trying to discredit him as a witness in a criminal case against you. Specifically, Weinstein’s attorneys will not be allowed to ask Gibson about racist or antisemitic remarks he’s made in the past—although they will be allowed to question Gibson about any specific animosity he bears toward Weinstein.

The two do, after all, have a history: Although Gibson never appeared in a Weinstein-produced movie (as far as we can tell), the Miramax head did accuse Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ of antisemitic overtones, going so far as to publish, through Miramax, a book, Perspectives On The Passion Of The Christ, in which a number of religious writers and scholars question some of the ideas, and the extreme violence, of Gibson’s passion play. (It also features, per the book’s Amazon page, an essay in which Steve Martin “offers an oblique comic view, from the perspective of a Hollywood insider,” which we’d be lying if we said we weren’t kind of curious about.)

According to the prosecution, Gibson became involved in the case while receiving a massage from Jane Doe 3 several years ago; when he mentioned “Harvey” in casual conversation, she reportedly had a “PTSD reaction,” stopped the massage, began crying, and, per attorneys in the case, “Gave the idea that Weinstein sexually assaulted or groped her.” Weinstein’s attorneys, meanwhile, are accusing Gibson of attempting to use the trial for his public image, alleging that he is “now trying to rehabilitate his image by becoming a champion of the #MeToo movement,” and stating that “Someone with white-supremacist values might have no problem perjuring himself against a Jewish defendant.” The judge ruled against allowing the topics to be brought up.

Weinstein is facing 11 counts of sexual assault in the Los Angeles case, from five different women. He’s currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York, after being convicted on two charges in 2020.