Read this: The West Wing's Josh Malina asks Hollywood to "Cancel Mel Gibson"

Hollywood can’t seem to quit Mel Gibson. Just last month, the actor, known for racist and antisemitic outbursts and a battery charge against his ex-girlfriend, reportedly entered talks to direct Lethal Weapon 5. Before that, Lionsgate hired him for a John Wick spin-off, tarnishing that franchise’s impressive track record. So it begs the question, what does Mel Gibson have on Hollywood?

But it’s probably more straightforward than that. As West Wing actor Joshua Malina puts it in a new essay for The Atlantic, “If Gibson is welcomed back to direct the latest installment of this beloved franchise, it may be time to stop publishing think pieces about the power of ‘cancel culture.’ Because if he can continue to find big bucks and approbation in Hollywood, cancel culture simply does not exist.”

Malina brings up some good points (aside from this assertion that “the anti-racist, progressive left often seems to tolerate and, at times, produce” antisemitism—you can take the man out of The West Wing, but you can’t take The West Wing out of the man). But his overall question remains, why does Hollywood keep giving Mel Gibson so many chances?

The actor, known for roles on Sports Night and The Big Bang Theory, accuses Hollywood, specifically Warner Bros., of remaining complicit with Gibson because “Jews don’t count.’

The fact that this doesn’t seem to bother Warner Bros. executives makes me wonder if, to them, “Jews don’t count”—as the comic David Baddiel posits in his book of the same name. Baddiel, a British Jew, argues that “polite” society treats anti-Semitism as a semi-acceptable form of prejudice. And most maddening and confusing is that the anti-racist, progressive left often seems to tolerate and, at times, produce it. It breaks my heart to ponder how many Jews must have been part of the process that led to Warner Bros.’ announcement.

This probably won’t be news to anyone reading this, but Gibson has a long, intense, and largely unapologetic history of antisemitism, racism, and misogyny. There was the time he went on a racist tirade against the mother of his child, telling her he wished she would be sexually assaulted. And who could forget when he threw an antisemitic tantrum after getting pulled over for a DUI? Or, when he was ironically developing a Macabees movie before screenwriter Joe Eszterhaus wrote a nine-page open letter accusing Gibson of referring to Jews as “‘Hebes’ and ‘oven-dodgers’ and ‘Jewboys.’” What about the time he lobbed similar insults at Winona Ryder?

For his part, in 2016, Gibson wondered aloud on the Variety podcast, “I don’t understand why after 10 years it’s any kind of issue […] Surely if I was really what they say I was, some kind of hater, there’d be evidence of actions somewhere.” He continued asserting that it was perfectly reasonable to act this way:

It was an unfortunate incident. I was loaded and angry and arrested. I was recorded illegally by an unscrupulous police officer who was never prosecuted for that crime. And then it was made public by him for profit, and by members of — we’ll call it the press. So, not fair. I guess as who I am, I’m not allowed to have a nervous breakdown, ever.

Within the exhausting cancel culture conversation, context gets flattened. Many feel empathy for someone who told his ex-girlfriend that he’s going to “burn the goddamn house down, but blow me first” because they might lose work due to their actions. But what of the people who have to work for and with him? As a director, he’s responsible for his crew, including Jews and people of color. Would they be able to trust the director to create a safe and equitable working environment knowing he believes “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world?”

Malina isn’t ignorant to how this essay will probably hurt his career. “I write this knowing that it’s more likely to lead to a boycott by Warner Bros. of Joshua Malina than of Mel Gibson.” Unfortunately, he’s probably right. Meanwhile, it’s only a matter of time before Gibson’s next big break.

Read the whole article at The Atlantic.