Robert Downey Jr. shows Mel Gibson some love in his SAG speech

Downey's mention of Gibson in his SAG acceptance speech sparked social media backlash and debate over his call for Hollywood to forgive his friend for his past controversies.

More than a decade after Robert Downey Jr. asked Hollywood to forgive Mel Gibson for his controversies, this year’s frontrunner for Oscar’s supporting actor award again showed his loyalty to his famously embattled friend in his SAG Awards speech.

While accepting the award for his performance in “Oppenheimer,” Downey took a moment to shout out the names of actors who positively impacted his career, ranging from the 1980s to his “Oppenheimer” co-stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Kenneth Branagh and Alden Ehrenreich.

Tucked in between mentions of his early co-stars Anthony Michael Hall and Whoopi Goldberg, Downey name-checked Mel Gibson, sparking social media backlash and debate because of Gibson’s history of antisemitic comments, racist rants and domestic violence.

Starting in 2006, Mel Gibson’s reputation as one of Hollywood’s most popular and bankable stars and directors began taking hits after he was was arrested for a DUI and was recorded yelling at a police officer, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world!”

It was subsequently alleged that Gibson once asked Winona Ryder if she was a Jewish “oven dodger,” though Gibson denied ever saying such a thing. In 2011, he pleaded no contest to domestic violence involving his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. In a 2020 essay for The Atlantic, actor Joshua Marina asked why Gibson continued to get hired to act or direct movies in Hollywood. “Gibson is a well-known Jew-hater (anti-Semite is too mild),” Malina wrote. “His prejudices are well documented.”

Following Downey’s SAG acceptance speech, social media lit up with reactions to his mention of Gibson, the Daily Beast reported. Gibson also was in the news last week when famed Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz revealed that the “Lethal Weapon” star was considered for the lead role in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film, “Schindler’s List.”

“We’re really gonna thank/acknowledge Mel Gibson in an acceptance speech in the year 2024? Yikes,” journalist Bonnie Stiernberg wrote on X.

“robert downey jr shouting mel gibson out in his speech is definitely a choice,” film writer Sabrina Ramirez also said.

“You know i feel like none of the other supporting actor nominees would have mentioned mel gibson idk,” another X user shared.

But others jumped on social media to praise Downey for showing loyalty to Gibson and to even defend Gibson himself for being an “amazing actor and director.” 

“If you know the story about RDJ career before Iron Man, you would understand why,” said one user, while another said: “The underlying reason Robert Downey Jr. acknowledges Mel Gibson (is) because Mel Gibson helped Robert Downey Jr. get out of his addictions, and therefore set him up for success.”

That X user is referring to when Downey fell into a downward spiral of drug addiction in the late 1990s. He was fired from his role on the TV show “Ally McBeal,” arrested multiple times for drug offenses and cycled in and out of jail, rehab and state prison.

His career didn’t pick up again until he finally quit drugs for good in 2003 and Gibson hired him to star in the film “The Singing Detective.” Gibson also personally underwrote Downey’s liability insurance.

When the “Iron Man” star received the 2011 award from American Cinematheque for “extraordinary artist in the entertainment industry,” he asked Gibson to present the honor, which allowed Downey to elaborate on his appreciate for the “Braveheart” actor.

“When I couldn’t get sober, (Gibson) told me to me not to give up hope, he urged me to find my faith … as long as it was rooted in forgiveness,” Downey said.  Gibson also told Downey that he should accept “responsibility for my wrongdoings and embrace that part of my soul that was ugly — hugging the cactus, he called it.”

“He said if I hugged the cactus long enough, I’d become a man of some humility and that my life would take on new meaning,” Downey said. “I did and it worked.”

After crediting Gibson for helping him to “keep a roof over my head … and … food on the table,” Downey asked the film industry audience to join him in “forgiving my friend his trespasses, offering him the same clean slate you have given me and allowing him to continue his great and ongoing contribution to our collective art without shame.”

Whether Gibson took his own advice and accepted “responsibility” for his own wrongdoings is a topic that’s still up for debate. Certainly, his many critics in Hollywood don’t think he has accepted that responsibility.

In a 2016 interview with Variety’s Playback podcast, Gibson talked about his DUI arrest and denied being antisemitic.

“It was an unfortunate incident,” Gibson said when asked about the fact that there are many who feel they can no longer support him or his work. “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.”

Gibson continued: “I’ve never discriminated against anyone or done anything that sort of supports that reputation.”

Gibson also decried the way he has continued to be demonized for his DUI tirade. He said, “For one episode in the back of a police car on eight double tequilas to sort of dictate all the work, life’s work and beliefs and everything else that I have and maintain for my life is really unfair.”