Trump selected the 90s actor alongside fellow celebrities Sylvester Stallone, saying in a post on Truth Social that the trio will “be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.” The former president wrote that Gibson will help his istration in bringing Hollywood “BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”, adding that the actor would serve as his “eyes and ears” in the moviemaking town. “I will get done what they suggest,” Trump wrote of the newly-selected ambassadors. “It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!”
Special envoys and ambassadors are usually chosen by presidents to respond to more troubled hotspots like the Middle East, not California. Beyond that, Trump’s selection of Gibson has raised questions about his suitability for the role and the criteria that led him here. In any case, Gibson himself said he was “just as surprised” to be named by Trump in the new role.
Mel Gibson said he will “heed the call” as Trump’s Hollywood ambassador.
Responding to the news of his selection in a press statement, Gibson – who endorsed Donald Trump during his presidential campaign – said he was “just as surprised” to be named as one of Trump’s Hollywood ambassadors. “I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised,” Gibson said (per Variety). “Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can.” The actor then joked about losing his home in the LA wildfires, asking whether the special envoy role “comes with an Ambassador’s residence.”
The “insight” Gibson refers to is in response to Trump’s broader description of the ambassador role, in which he highlighted the need for more films to be produced on US soil and claimed that Hollywood “has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries.” Trump’s selection of Gibson is not without precedent, since the What Women Want star has been ive of the president-elect in the past.
While Gibson was critical of Trump during his 2016 bid for the White House — saying Trump and Hillary Clinton, were both “bad candidates” — the actor has changed his tune about the former president in recent years. In 2017, the actor was caught looking dismayed when his Hollywood colleague Meryl Streep onished Trump during her speech at that year’s Golden Globes, though he was even more outwardly ive of him In the lead-up to last year’s election.
In a video published by TMZ in October, Gibson said he didn’t think it was “going to surprise anyone who I vote for” and that Trump was a “pretty good guess” as to where his affiliations lied. He also declared that Trump’s 2024 presidential opponent, Kamala Harris, had an “appalling track record” with “no policies to speak of” and “the IQ of a fence post.”
Mel Gibson has attracted controversy in the past.
In 2006, Gibson was caught on video while being arrested for a DUI saying anti-semitic remarks like “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Similar accusations of antisemitism erupted in the wake of the release of The ion of the Christ, which was directed by Gibson and was criticized by The Anti-Defamation League for its unflattering depiction of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.
In 2010, Gibson faced allegations of domestic abuse leveled by the mother of his children, Oksana Grigorieva. That year, she filed a restraining order against the actor as audio leaked of a rant directed at her in which he used insanely racist and abusive language while screaming at her about her clothing choices
Published: Jan 20, 2025 03:41 am