Jewish groups blast actor Gary Oldman for 'anti-Semitic' comments

Los Angeles (AFP) - Jewish groups blasted British actor Gary Oldman for alleged anti-Semitic remarks defending Mel Gibson and suggesting that Hollywood is run by Jews.

The "Dark Knight" star made the comments in an interview with Playboy magazine, talking about Gibson's notorious 2006 anti-Semitic rant at a US sheriff's deputy who had arrested him for drunken driving.

"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 -- and doesn't need to feed him anymore because he's got enough dough," Oldman told the magazine.

"I just think political incorrectness is crap," he added.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Jewish lobby group said on Tuesday the 56-year-old actor "should know better than to repeat tired anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish control of Hollywood."

"Gary Oldman's remarks irresponsibly feed into a classic anti-Semitic canard about supposed Jewish control of Hollywood and the film industry," said ADL national director Abraham H. Foxman.

"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."

The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center's founder, Rabbi Marvin Hier, added: "Gary Oldman wants Jews to 'get over' what Mel Gibson said.

"But what Gibson said was the slogan that Adolf Hitler used to murder six million Jews during the Holocaust. His own comment that Hollywood is a town 'run by Jews' has a very familiar sinister ring to it that is the anthem of bigots and anti-Semites everywhere.

"That has nothing to do with political correctness," he added in a statement.

[Image via Agence France-Presse]