Media, Hollywood Predictably Turn On Actor Gary Oldman For Slamming Liberals

(WARNING: Insinuated adult language) — In a refreshingly honest interview with Playboy, actor Gary Oldman slammed liberalism, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and political correctness. Oldman even made a few comments that several Jewish groups have arguably taken out-of-context and accused the actor of anti-semitism.

“I just think political correctness is crap. That’s what I think about it. I think it’s like, take a f***ing joke. Get over it. … I don’t know about Mel. He got drunk and said a few things, but we’ve all said those things. We’re all f***ing hypocrites. That’s what I think about it,” Oldman said. The comment that drew criticism was also a remark over the controversy surrounding Mel Gibson.

“The British actor remarked that, ‘Mel Gibson is in a town that’s run by Jews and he said the wrong thing because he’s actually bitten the hand that I guess has fed him.” The ADL says the remarks “irresponsibly feed into a classic anti-Semitic canard about supposed Jewish control of Hollywood and the film industry,” said Abraham H. Foxman, the director of the shyster-ridden Anti-Defamation League National.

“He should know better than to repeat and give credence to tired anti-Semitic tropes. Mel Gibson’s ostracization in Hollywood was not a matter of being ‘politically incorrect,’ as Mr. Oldman suggests, but of paying the consequences for outing himself as a bigot and a hater. It is disturbing that Mr. Oldman appears to have bought into Mr. Gibson’s warped and prejudiced world view.”

But, despite what amy appear to be a valid criticism when read out-of-context, the fact remains that the ADL has long-served as an attack machine for the liberal establishment, using political correctness in any form to bully those who have the courage to oppose the liberal mindset and mantra in Hollywood and other elitist circles. Not everyone is jumping to join the PR gestapo, however.

“As one who has been fortunate enough to have done a couple dozen Playboy Interviews of stars and directors, I reflexively cringed this morning as I watch the knee-jerk condemnations of Gary Oldman because of excerpts from a Playboy Interview he did to promote Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes,” Mike Fleming Jr. wrote of the backlash.

“All this for one imperfectly worded answer in nine hours of interview time?” Fleming added.

Perhaps, not? Perhaps it was his attack on former speaker and now-minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that let the hounds loose:

Well, if I called Nancy Pelosi a c**t—and I’ll go one better, a f***ing useless c**t—I can’t really say that. But Bill Maher and Jon Stewart can, and nobody’s going to stop them from working because of it.

Or, perhaps it was his comments on racism in America:

It’s our culture now, absolutely. At the Oscars, if you didn’t vote for 12 Years a Slave, you were a racist. You have to be very careful about what you say. I do have particular views and opinions that most of this town doesn’t share, but it’s not like I’m a fascist or a racist. There’s nothing like that in my history.

The charges of anti-semitism ring rather hollow when you consider the praise Oldman had for FOX News contributor and syndicated columnist, Charles Krauthammer. But, perhaps, Krauthammer doesn’t count because he is a conservative intellectual.

“There are a number of people. A voice I particularly like is Charles Krauthammer. I think he’s incredibly smart. I think he’s fair, very savvy and politically insightful, so I enjoy watching him,” Oldman said of Krauthammer.

Still, Oldman sent a written apology to the ADL, which read as follows:

Dear Gentlemen of the ADL:

I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people. Upon reading my comments in print—I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter. If, during the interview, I had been asked to elaborate on this point I would have pointed out that I had just finished reading Neal Gabler’s superb book about the Jews and Hollywood, An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews invented Hollywood. The fact is that our business, and my own career specifically, owes an enormous debt to that contribution.

I hope you will know that this apology is heartfelt, genuine, and that I have an enormous personal affinity for the Jewish people in general, and those specifically in my life. The Jewish People, persecuted thorough the ages, are the first to hear God’s voice, and surely are the chosen people.

I would like to sign off with “Shalom Aleichem”—but under the circumstances, perhaps today I lose the right to use that phrase, so I will wish you all peace–Gary Oldman.

To be fair, Oldman’s manager/producing partner Douglas Urbanski emailed Fleming arguing that Oldman was specifically targeting political correctness, not liberalism. But who doesn’t expect a bit of back-peddling from someone who wants to keep earning a living?

I wanted to respond to to the misleading headlines that have popped up…by that I mean that Gary does not blast ‘liberal Hollywood’–the word liberal is not used by him…nor does Gary in anyplace in the piece (or out of it) defend Mel Gibson or Alec Baldwin. I have looked at the Playboy interview a few times now. I am unaware–as I have seen reported–of Gary Oldman defending any anti-Semitic remarks in the interview, or, for that matter, anyplace! He would not do so, and in fact he finds any kind of bigotry, homophobia, anti-Semitism, racism or sexism unacceptable and disgraceful. Period. If you read the Playboy piece correctly and entirely, and in context, it is the hypocrisy of politically correctness that Gary is addressing, nothing else….in this interview, Gary is doing what many intelligent people do: he is illustrating the absurd by being absurd.

Oldman demonstrated his unquestionable talent in a plethora of widely-praised roles, including Sid Vicious, Dracula, Beethoven, Lee Harvey Oswald, The Dark Knight’s Commissioner Gordon and Harry Potter’s Sirius Black.

Read the full PLAYBOY interview