Website posts recording of racist Mel Gibson rant
LOS ANGELES, CA
The two-minute recording posted by RadarOnline.com includes
segments in which a voice sounding distinctively like the Academy
Award-winner is heard telling his then-girlfriend, Oksana
Grigorieva, that she is dressing too provocatively and that it
would be her fault if she were raped. He uses the N-word at one
point, and the recording is laced with his profanity.
Grigorieva recorded the actor-director because she was afraid he
might harm her, the website reported. The actor is heard on the
recording harshly criticizing Grigorieva for the way she dresses.
He accuses her of lying to him about having breast implants.
"They just look stupid," Gibson tells her at one point in the
recording. "Keep them if you want to. They look like a Vegas
bitch, a Vegas whore."
"You look like a (expletive) bitch in heat, and if you get
raped by a pack of (N-word), it will be your fault," Gibson is
heard telling Grigorieva. "You provoked it. You are provocatively
dressed."
Alan Nierob, a spokesman for Gibson, did not immediately respond
to requests for comment.
A phone message left for Grigorieva's attorney, Marci Levine,
was not immediately returned.
It is unclear when the recording was made or in what context. It
opens with Gibson discussing breast feeding of their now
8-month-old daughter. Toward the end, Gibson indicates he is done
with the relationship.
"I don't trust you," the actor is heard saying. "I don't love
you. I don't want you."
The recording has shades of another scandal for Gibson -- his use
of anti-Semitic and sexist remarks during a drunken driving arrest
in 2006. The actor-director later apologized for the statements,
which were included in a report by a sheriff's deputy who arrested
Gibson that was obtained by celebrity website TMZ.
The former couple have been locked in a bitter custody dispute
in Los Angeles. The 40-year-old singer has accused Gibson of
domestic violence, and sheriff's officials have launched an
investigation.
Records in the court case, which may include the audio
recordings, remain sealed.
RadarOnline has been posting text excerpts since July 1 of
roughly 30 minutes of recordings of Gibson that she made before the
pair broke up in April. Friday's posting was the first time that
audio of the encounters had been released.
The recording released Friday is unlikely to be RadarOnline's
last word on Gibson. Site founder and Executive Vice President
David Perel told The Associated Press that more excerpts of audio
that Grigorieva recorded will be posted to the site in coming days.
The site has posted text transcripts that include threats of
violence and other racial slurs.
Perel said that RadarOnline has heard "a significant portion"
of the recordings. He said the site has verified it is Gibson on
the recording.
The website, owned by American Media Inc., which also owns the
National Enquirer, did not say how it obtained the tapes. Perel
told the AP the site did not pay for the recordings and that they
did not come from Grigorieva.
Perel said the site felt it was an important story to publish,
despite the disturbing content. He said in some of the recordings,
Gibson and Grigorieva's 8-month old daughter can be heard screaming
in the background.
The screaming is not present in the audio released Friday.
"We felt it was so newsworthy and so explosive we simply had to
report what we heard," Perel said.
For more on this story, check out OnTheRedCarpet.com.