ABOVE: Winona Ryder at a press conference for the animated film “Frankenweenie” in 2012. (Photo by Larry Richman, from Wikimedia Commons)
In a recent interview, actress Winona Ryder spoke about an incident in which actor Mel Gibson allegedly made anti-Semitic and homophobic comments.
According to Hollywood Life, Ryder was asked in an interview with The Sunday Times about anti-Semitism that she has personally experienced during her time working in the entertainment industry. Ryder proceeded to recall a party she attended, in which she ran into Gibson.
Ryder attended the party with her friend Kevyn Aucoin, the openly-gay make-up artist and photographer, and when introduced to Aucoin, Gibson said “‘Oh wait, am I gonna get AIDS?’”
The subject of the conversation turned to Jewish people and Gibson said to Ryder, who is Jewish, “You’re not an oven dodger, are you?” “Oven dodger” refers to the Nazi practice of killing Jewish prisoners by incineration.
Ryder also said that the actor attempted to apologize for his comments afterwards.
In the wake of Ryder’s revelation, people took to Twitter to express their outrage over Gibson’s remarks.
David Grossman views Gibson’s past indiscretion as irredeemable.
Hey just wanna say fuck Mel Gibson now and forever https://t.co/xTYVfrrTaP
— David Grossman (@davidgross_man) June 23, 2020
Actress and “Shameless” star Emmy Rossum framed the incident as being emblematic of “the white supremacy and bigotry that pervades our country and industry,” while PAPPADEMAS – who interviewed Ryder for a GQ article a decade earlier – pointed out that this is not the first time Ryder has publicly acknowledged this previous interaction with Gibson.
This stirred up a lot for me in a time when I’m already pretty stirred. It’s disgusting. It’s sad. And yet not a surprising or unique experiece of the white supremacy and bigotry that pervades our country and industry at all.https://t.co/QlvyzQ4LfU
— Emmy Rossum (@emmyrossum) June 23, 2020
when I interviewed Winona Ryder she told me the same story about Mel Gibson & we printed it in a national magazine ten years ago and nothing happened pic.twitter.com/S5yZbUzA0c
— PAPPADEMAS (@PAPPADEMAS) June 23, 2020
Gibson responded to Ryder’s accusations with a statement, through a representative, to Variety.
“This is 100% untrue,” Gibson’s rep stated. “She lied about it over a decade ago, when she talked to the press, and she’s lying about it now.”
