Mel Gibson is facing backlash for mocking an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter while entering a Fan Expo Canada panel over the weekend.
As the 70-year-old walked onstage, he waved at attendees — and then mimicked the woman’s signs before pointing to the crowd.
The footage has since gone viral, with social media users blasting Gibson’s move.
“This choice is bonkers to me,” an individual tweeted Monday. “*interpreter just doing their job, people clapping for you, positive vibes* Mel Gibson: *makes fun of ASL interpreter for no reason at all*.”
Others dubbed the “Braveheart” star “despicable” and “gross,” while some praised him as an “elite troll.”
Gibson told Page Six in a statement Monday, “Sometimes when you get pushed out on a stage in a spotlight your mind is all over the place, and sometimes spontaneous thoughtless idiocy is displayed.”
He added, “There was no intended maliciousness attached, and I certainly apologize to anyone who was upset by it.”
The Oscar winner, notably, has a decades-long history of homophobic, sexist, racist and anti-Semitic remarks.
Gibson went on an antisemitic rant during his 2006 arrest for drunk driving, later insisting he was “truly sorry” about the “out of control” moment.
“I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse,” he said.
A recording surfaced in 2010 of the Oscar winner’s racist remark to then-girlfriend Oksana Grigoriev — but he claimed the “garbage” audio was edited.
“You have to put it all in the proper context of being in an irrationally, heated discussion at the height of a breakdown, trying to get out of a really unhealthy relationship,” he said. “It’s one terribly, awful moment in time, said to one person, in the span of one day and doesn’t represent what I truly believe or how I’ve treated people my entire life.”
That same year, Winona Ryder called Gibson out in 2010, alleging he made homophobic and antisemitic remarks to her and a gay pal at a star-studded bash.
“He was really drunk,” the actress, 54, claimed at the time. “It was just this weird, weird moment.”
When she spoke about the “painful and vivid memory” again in 2020, Gibson’s rep issued a statement insisting the “Stranger Things” alum “was lying” on both occasions.
His popularity in the movie industry has declined amid the scandals, with a
Gibson is directing the sequel to his 2004 “Passion of the Christ” movie, and Page Six broke the news last year that the project has been filming in Rome with a new cast.
