Rob Schneider's open letter about Mel Gibson

I had mentioned Rob Schneider's open letter, published as a full page ad in Variety, vowing never to work with Mel Gibson. At the time people--some anyway--were taking this seriously. They mentioned it as another example of Hollywood's backlash against Gibson. Maybe they didn't read it, or maybe they thought Rob Schneider was a complete idiot who thought that there might actually be a Passion of the Christ 2.

But here it is:

I, Rob Schneider, a 1/2 Jew, pledge from this day forth to never work with Mel Gibson-actor-director-producer anti-Semite.

Even if Mr. Gibson offered me the lead role in "Passion of the Christ 2'. I, like Bernie Brillstein, would have to say "NO!" Even if Mel had a juicy voice-over role in his new flick "Apocalypto" and I spoke ancient Mayan, I, like Bernie Brillstein would still have to say "NO!"

Even if "Apocalypto" is a gigantic smash and Mr Gibson is quietly forgiven by Hollywood's Power Brokers, and I was offered a lead role opposite Mel Gibson's Father, (the Mad Max of Holocaust deniers) I, like Bernie Brillstein would likely have to say "NO!"

Even though I have just completed principal photography of my directoral debut in my upcoming motion picture "Big Stan" (A Prison Comedy) in which there is a Nazi gang leader, which apparently Mel would be PERRR-FECT for, and I had a Time Machine and could go back in time and RE-CAST the lead Nazi, I, like Bernie Brillstein would Mmm-most likely have to say "NO!"

Of course that would be only after I talked with my financial backers some of whom share Mr Gibson's hankering for a good bottle of Tequila. Because, after all...

I don't get to call the shots.

Sincerely Yours

It was more of an attack on Bernie Brillstein than Mel Gibson. Brillstein was an agent who represented several other Saturday Night Live alums, inclusing John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Martin Short. He died in 2008. I don't know why Schneider was picking on him.

Here's something else from the same period, from Deadline Hollywood, August 1, 2006:

Today’s Los Angeles Times beats The New York Times’ coverage of the Mel Gibson slur scandal fallout by a mile. That’s because of the article by Claudia Eller and Claire Hoffman featuring “several prominent Hollywood figures [who] broke the industry’s silence by publicly condemning the star.”

Quoted first is Sony Pictures movie chairwoman Amy Pascal, who was the only studio chief to speak to the reporting pair on the record. “It’s incredibly disappointing that somebody of his stature would speak out that way, especially at this sensitive time,” she told the paper.

Next was producer Arnon Milchan, an Israeli citizen, who said: “To make all of your money from Jews in Hollywood, and then have a few drinks and say you hate Jews, is shocking. If you are so upset with the Jews, don’t work for them.”

Producer Jerry Weintraub is quoted calling Gibson “an old friend of mine. I am so sad, so hurt and so disappointed. I don’t have words to express it. I really feel bad for him as a human being. I never knew this side of him.”

Producer Laura Ziskin termed it ”appalling. In a world in which there is so much hatred, and there is so much violence, to harbor those kinds of feelings … it is so sad.”

Asked by the paper about ever working with Gibson, Ziskin said: “I don’t see that in my future.”

Veteran talent manager Bernie Brillstein also told the LAT he would not work with Gibson. “If he calls me tomorrow, would I represent him? The answer is no. That doesn’t make me right. I just don’t like bigots.”

Until this story, only Ari Emanuel and Oren Aviv had gone public about the Gibson slur scandal. ICM’s Jeff Berg told the paper, “I hate what he said, and so does he. His remarks have created a first-class mess, and he has owned up to it. You cannot spin this. This is a question not of how low you can sink, but how you can dig yourself out of this hole.”

Berg told the LAT he was communicating the actor’s remorse to his staff and clients. “We’re not going to back away from him in a moment of need,” Berg said. “Our goal is to help him, not judge him.”