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Gary Oldman: "it’s not like I’m a fascist or a racist"

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Deeply concerned for the public welfare of his dear friends Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin, Gary Oldman shares his thoughts on their controversial actions (Mel's .. uh... rants, Alec Baldwin's use of the word fag). Because hey, why not go to bat for 'em on record when nobody asked you to?

On 'raped by a pack of niggers*' Mel:
“I don't know about Mel. He got drunk and said a few things, but we've all said those things,” the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy actor told Playboy.

“We're all f**king hypocrites. That's what I think about it. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word n***** or that f**king Jew?

“I'm being brutally honest here. It's the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy.

“Or maybe I should just strike that and say ‘the N word’ and ‘the F word’, although there are two F words now.”

Oldman sympathised with Gibson, describing how he has become “an outcast, a leper”.

“Mel Gibson is in a town that’s run by Jews and he said the wrong thing because he’s actually bitten the hand that I guess has fed him - and doesn’t need to feed him anymore because he’s got enough dough,” he continued.

“He’s like an outcast, a leper, you know?

“But some Jewish guy in his office somewhere hasn’t turned and said, ‘That f***ing kraut’ or ‘F**k those Germans,’ whatever it is? We all hide and try to be so politically correct. That's what gets me.”


On Alec Baldwin's use of fag
“Alec calling someone an F-A-G in the street while he's pissed off coming out of his building because they won't leave him alone. I don't blame him. So they persecute,” said Oldman.


And finally, on 12 Years A Slave's critical and award season reception:
At the Oscars, if you didn’t vote for 12 Years a Slave you were a racist. You have to be very careful about what you say. I do have particular views and opinions that most of this town doesn’t share, but it’s not like I’m a fascist or a racist. There’s nothing like that in my history.’

And a bonus clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIaWo-BlBjs

PqcSbSZ.gif



http://www.celebitchy.com/372869/ga...aldwin_mel_gibson_weve_all_said_those_things/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...try-to-be-so-politically-correct-9557435.html

*niggers means ignorant people fyi
 
I mean, he's an Englishman born in the 1950s

this is hardly a surprising attitude towards political correctness coming from someone like him, if somewhat irksome
 

Squalor

Junior Member
Mel Gibson, drunk or not, was not talking about "ignorant people."
"There’s nothing like that in my history."

CrjxPYW.gif


Did he think 12 Years A Slave was speculative fiction?
It was obviously fantasy, like Amistad, Hotel Rwanda, Roots, and Schindler's List.

Gary Oldman: Great actor, dumbass person.
 
“But some Jewish guy in his office somewhere hasn’t turned and said, ‘That f***ing kraut’ or ‘F**k those Germans,’ whatever it is? We all hide and try to be so politically correct. That's what gets me.”

in other news, we do not exist in a vacuum
 
So is Gary Oldman now biting the hand that feeds him now?

I don't understand why you'd say these things if you believed or thought them.
 
The weirdest and most embarrassing defense of racism is the one where people act like, well GOSH, if we're all honest, everyone has said awful racial slurs in anger against minorities in their life!

Because no, not everybody has done that.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Ya gotta pick your battles Gary.

The weirdest and most embarrassing defense of racism is the one where people act like, well GOSH, if we're all honest, everyone has said awful racial slurs in anger against minorities in their life!

Because no, not everybody has done that.

Haven't we all killed a few hookers now and then?
 

Squalor

Junior Member
The weirdest and most embarrassing defense of racism is the one where people act like, well GOSH, if we're all honest, everyone has said awful racial slurs in anger against minorities in their life!

Because no, not everybody has done that.
It's the new "I'm not racist. I have a [race] friend" defense.

"I'm not racist. Everyone has said/thought it."
 

Wiktor

Member
He's right. The shit the entertainment industry let other people get away with it is ridiculous, while Mel got shitcanned because he said few dumb words..I mean...wtf?
 

Abounder

Banned
Roman Polanski
Fan favorite Jonah Hill calling a reporter a 'cocksucking faggot'
And misc. number of other stars and domestic/sexual/etc abuse
etc

Hollywood is indeed hypocritical but that's the way it is. Although I would support watching Gibson, Baldwin, Hill, etc. if their movies were good. And my favorite film is probably Chinatown. Carry on
 

Tsukumo

Member
It's sad to see a guy like him throwing salt at the clouds.
I guess age gets the worst out even in people like him.
 
He's right. The shit the entertainment industry let other people get away with it is ridiculous, while Mel got shitcanned because he said few dumb words..I mean...wtf?

Can you elaborate? Mel Gibson showed himself to be a racist lunatic, do you feel like he should have no consequences for that?
 
The weirdest and most embarrassing defense of racism is the one where people act like, well GOSH, if we're all honest, everyone has said awful racial slurs in anger against minorities in their life!

Because no, not everybody has done that.

Yup.

It also fails as an attack on racism. "All [x] people say those things."
 

PJV3

Member
The Baldwin incident was tricky because it was at odds with his everyday behaviour, Gibson is just a plain old unpleasant twat.
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
On one hand, I totally agree that you can't use select outbursts of frustration to conclude someone is racist.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with Oldman's defense (or Mel Gibson's outbursts in particular, which were pretty explicit and direct).
 

skybald

Member
The weirdest and most embarrassing defense of racism is the one where people act like, well GOSH, if we're all honest, everyone has said awful racial slurs in anger against minorities in their life!

Because no, not everybody has done that.

I wish the NSA data of american cellphones would be released and an analysis of it could be ran so we could see what percentage of the Americans say horrible and dumb shit in anger, in jest, or off the cuff and mean nothing by it
 

Spoo

Member
It just sounds like a shoddy defense and dismissal of the behavior. It shouldn't be like that. It would be better, for instance, to say: "Gee, y'know, those words are horrible. And people say them -- and when they say them, other people need to say 'don't say that' and educate them as to why not to say that, and then we need to forgive them for saying those things and hope they get better."

I mean, if you're asking for forgiveness from the public space, that's how you go about it (see: Jonah Hill). You don't need to get down on all fours and pray for forgiveness, but you do need to show that you're sorry. And if you're Gary Oldman, and you want your friends to be forgiven, you should be spending your time approaching it a different way instead of basically saying "Everyone has done it, so it's ok."

That said, I get where he's coming from, and that kind of rhetoric might work if you're in a tight circle of people who were offended by those things, but it doesn't work in the public space. You look out of touch with reality and people.
 

Squalor

Junior Member
Roman Polanski
Jonah Hill calling a reporter a 'cocksucking faggot'
etc

Hollywood is indeed hypocritical but that's the way it is. Although I would support watching Gibson, Baldwin, Hill, etc. if their movies were good. And my favorite film is probably Chinatown. Carry on
Jonah Hill went on a public apology tour.

What did Baldwin do after his incident? Try to cover it up.

Hell, Tracy Morgan, who was doing a stand-up routine when he said his so-called "offensive" things, got it way worse than Baldwin. I wonder why.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
It just sounds like a shoddy defense and dismissal of the behavior. It shouldn't be like that. It would be better, for instance, to say: "Gee, y'know, those words are horrible. And people say them -- and when they say them, other people need to say 'don't say that' and educate them as to why not to say that, and then we need to forgive them for saying those things and hope they get better."

I mean, if you're asking for forgiveness from the public space, that's how you go about it (see: Jonah Hill). You don't need to get down on all fours and pray for forgiveness, but you do need to show that you're sorry. And if you're Gary Oldman, and you want your friends to be forgiven, you should be spending your time approaching it a different way instead of basically saying "Everyone has done it, so it's ok."

Well said. We can forgive you as long as you acknowledge the problem with it, and maybe make a teachable moment out of it.
 

Wiktor

Member
Can you elaborate? Mel Gibson showed himself to be a racist lunatic, do you feel like he should have no consequences for that?
I think there shouldn't be anywhere near as big consequences as the one he got. He said few stupid remarks, but guy is alcoholic and was falling of the wagon when all that happened. Plus he went ahead and apologized to people he offended, privately, without journalists even knowing about it.

When you get people who beat women or rape little girls enjoy brilliant careers, while a stupid drunk gets banned for life you have to wonder just how fucked up the priorities are in entertainment industry.
 

GreekWolf

Member
I'm starting to believe that everyone in Hollywood is a terrible person.

If they're not shouting racial slurs or demeaning someone's sexuality, then they're apparently raping adolescents.
 

kirblar

Member
Can you elaborate? Mel Gibson showed himself to be a racist lunatic, do you feel like he should have no consequences for that?
Yeah, the situation with Alec is not at all comparable to the one with Mel, lol. It's like with the Sterling situation- it's not what you say, it's what your words reveal about you. Accidentally reverting to your 13yo self's vocabulary when you get angry is understandable. Repeatedly slurring various minority groups is not.
 
I understand the point he's trying to get at, but damn he really fumbled the ball. Sure, there's a level of hypocrisy as other people can and do think horrible things, but that doesn't excuse any of these guys in the slightest.
 
I'm curious what he is 'right' about, exactly. The racial hypocrisy he is talking about is a hypothetical "everyone does it but I have only my imagination to fall back on". Granted, he may be referring to polanski/etc, but never so much as names him, which is odd, since that would be example numero uno. But I don't think it's really about hypocrisy at all.

Also, being an old dude from a bygone era flies out the window as an excuse when you're an international movie star who has traveled and worked with people all over the world. Due is not a bartender in the sticks.


And I'm curious if anyone can mount a defense on his weird 12 years a slave comment.
 
On one hand, I totally agree that you can't use select outbursts of frustration to conclude someone is racist.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with Oldman's defense (or Mel Gibson's outbursts in particular, which were pretty explicit and direct).

I agree with this statement.

Especially with celebrities, you have to be especially cautious to make sure nothing you say can be quoted and analyzed to the 10th degree.

I'm starting to believe that everyone in Hollywood is a terrible person.

If they're not shouting racial slurs or demeaning someone's sexuality, then they're apparently raping adolescents.

I reconciled with that thought years ago. Pretty much to be a known person in Hollywood you have to screw over somebody.
 
Shit I've said those things... when I was a fucking teenager. These are grown men that have had plenty of time to learn that some things aren't ok. I've changed my actions as an adult and they have not. That is the reprehensible part.
 
"There’s nothing like that in my history."

CrjxPYW.gif


Did he think 12 Years A Slave was speculative fiction?

He was talking about HIS history. He said he's a not a racist/fascist if you look back at his life.

Some of you are so quick to jump at his throath for even the slightest hint that he MAY have some prejudices.

He's proven right with the responses we've had in this thread now. I think PC has gone way off the edge in the past few years. There's a full full-blown double standards in practice, especially in America. Just being too much used to think in binary emotions. ANGRY. SAD. SCARED. HAPPY.
 

V_Arnold

Member
Yeah. The general public's ability to wonder how these actors and "famous" personalities can reduce to an angry, shouting NORMAL PERSON is wonderful. Everyone can be made an asshole. There are psychological experiments backing that up as well. Hell, look up the famous Stanford Prison experiment.

If you have never once been cursing at someone (even using the motherf-er or similar words), or never once have been angry with others present: god bless you sir (all gods), you are a saint and a gentleman. :D

I am not saying that we should clap anyone who shows racist tendencies. Far from it. But the judgmental nature of these witch-hunts are indeed scary. If you are truly above such mentality, then you are above of condemning others. (Which ironically, I am not above, since this post is similar, only towards those doing the condemnation :D)

Shit I've said those things... when I was a fucking teenager. These are grown men that have had plenty of time to learn that some things aren't ok. I've changed my actions as an adult and they have not. That is the reprehensible part.

People can easily "assume" their previous mindsets under stress, alcohol, or just the right environment. I just was at our 10th graduation anniversary meeting, and I have seen how my friends assume their old classmate roles in front of their long-time-no-seen classmates. Some where more rude, some where more open, some where more shy, all fallen back to how it was 10 years ago. And I know most of them have matured WAY past those times.
 

Leunam

Member
I mean, he's an Englishman born in the 1950s

this is hardly a surprising attitude towards political correctness coming from someone like him, if somewhat irksome

But that's not really an excuse. People can change and it's especially surprising coming from someone who has made a career from working with people of all sorts of backgrounds. The surprising part is that he still sees things this way.
 
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