During a party in Hollywood in the 1990s, Mel Gibson was laughing and drinking with a couple of actors. After this Gibson and a few of the men smoked cigars. He found out in conversation one of the fellows was gay. “Wait, I’m not going to get AIDS now, am I?” joked Gibson.
One of the women, actress Winona Ryder, took offense at Gibson’s comments. He stared her down and said through the smoke of his cigar: “You’re not an oven dodger, are you?” Oven dodger, as in — a Jew. Because they got burned in ovens in WWII. He was insinuating that Jewish people are more sensitive to the type of politically incorrect jokes he loves to crack. A few years later, in the early 2000s, Gibson was caught driving under the influence. He was recorded ranting to a cop about how “the Jews start all the wars in the world!” and other such things.
Now I’ll be the first to admit Mel Gibson is a fine actor and one hell of a great director. I love and have seen all his work. But there’s a pretty good reason he’s disliked by quite a few folks in the business — he has a habit of saying the most wildly inappropriate stuff for shits and giggles, and loves to watch the shocked responses. He’s like an internet troll, only one with balls of brass steel who will do it to your face and not hidden beneath an online alias.