Gibson hasn’t been cut up this bad since the end of “Braveheart”.
He may not have been up for any awards on Sunday night, but Mel Gibson found himself in the pillory at the Academy Awards nevertheless when Trevor Noah threw some merciless shade at the Oscar-winner.
“The Daily Show” host was introducing one of the Best Picture nominees, “Black Panther”, in which he has a small voice role as Wakandan ship AI Griot.
“Black Panther may be an African hero, but his story and his appeal are universal,” Noah began. “I know this personally, because of all the people who constantly come up to me and say, ‘Wakanda forever!’
He said his African friends were constantly repeating the phrase to him, as were the people of France.
“Even backstage, Mel Gibson came up to me like, ‘Wakanda forever’,” he joked. “He said another word after that, but the Wakanda part was nice.”
After cutting to the crowd, the cameraman caught Maya Rudolph stifling a laugh while nodding emphatically. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler meanwhile were stone-faced beside her.
While Trevor didn’t specify what that word was, Twitter universally agreed it was a racism jibe.
Gibson, who took home two Oscars in 1996 for “Braveheart” — Best Picture and Best Director — has been accused of racism and anti-semitism in the past.
Among the more infamous incidents were his 2006 DUI arrest, in which he blamed “f–king Jews” for all the world’s wars to the arresting officer; and the 2010 leaked audio recording of his abusive rant at ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, in which he is heard saying “if you get raped by a pack of n—–s, it will be your fault”.
Gibson’s latest involvement with the Academy was his 2016 Best Director nomination for “Hacksaw Ridge”; he lost out to Damien Chazelle for “La La Land”.
