The celebrity-news apocalypse can happen now: The Associated Press has a preview of an upcoming interview in Entertainment Weekly in which Mel Gibson comments on the Michael Richards case, thereby turning the "racist-remark-guilt-news cycle" into a circular, self-sustaining machine. Excerpts:
"I feel really badly for the guy. He was obviously in a state of stress. You don't need to be inebriated to be bent out of shape. But my heart went out to the guy."
The 50-year-old actor-director added: "They'll probably torture him for a while and then let him go. I like him."
The Newswire is as guilty as any of posting a lot about Richards, mostly because it's delightful to see how ridiculous the coverage can get, but this is a clear omen that the story's gone stale and is gasping for life (as the "ban the n-word" campaign story takes off independently).