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Mel Gibson responds to Winona Ryder’s anti-Semitism accusation

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Mel Gibson responds to Winona Ryder’s anti-Semitism accusation

Mel Gibson is responding to Winona Ryder’s stunning charges that the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker uttered anti-Semitic and discriminatory statements, accusing her of lying about their exchanges.

The actress said in a recent interview with the Sunday Times that Gibson questioned whether she was an “oven dodger” 25 years ago.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the pejorative word relates to the large-scale gas chambers used by Nazis to execute Jewish inmates during the Holocaust.

“We were at a crowded party with one of my good friends and Mel Gibson was smoking a cigar, and we’re all talking and he said to my friend, who’s gay, ‘Oh, wait, am I gonna get AIDS?’” she explained in the interview. “And then something came up about Jews, and he said, ‘You’re not an oven dodger, are you?’” the actress alleged, adding that Gibson “tried” to apologize to her later. In a 2010 interview with GQ, she made a similar complaint.

In an emailed response, Gibson’s representatives informed The New York Post, “This is 100 percent untrue. She lied about it over a decade ago, when she talked to the press, and she’s lying about it now,” the representatives claimed.

“Also, she lied about him trying to apologise to her back then. He did reach out to her, many years ago, to confront her about her lies and she refused to address it with him.”

Ryder hit back on Gibson’s denial on Tuesday afternoon, saying she stuck by her account of the encounter.

In a statement to THR, Ryder stated, “I believe in redemption and forgiveness and hope that Mr. Gibson has found a healthy way to deal with his demons, but I am not one of them. Around 1996, my friend Kevyn Aucoin and I were on the receiving end of his hateful words. It is a painful and vivid memory for me. Only by accepting responsibility for our behavior in this life, can we make amends and truly respect each other, and I wish him well on this lifelong journey.”

Gibson’s once burgeoning career came to a halt in 2006, when he was arrested for DUI and told cops, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world!”

Also, in audio recordings of a confrontation with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, which were published in 2010 by RadarOnline, he hurled racist insults. Gibson’s career has rebounded despite his departure from the A-list. He was nominated for an Academy Award for directing “Hacksaw Ridge” in 2016, and he also starred in “Daddy’s Home 2.”

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