Michael Richards, Mel Gibson; Mel Gibson, Michael Richards

So when Mel went all mental after being pulled over on suspicion of DUI, letting fly with his anti-Semitic tirade and then later apologizing profusely for saying things that, clearly, were always in his heart, I thought it was strange. Not that I'm any big Gibson fan, but he just didn't seem like the type of celebrity who'd be stupid enough to:

a) drink to the point where he'd lose control of his brain;
b) hold such idiotic opinions in this day and age;
c) not have a handler with him whenever he goes out drinking in public to avoid just such an event, failing a) and b).

And yet. For days, that was the biggest entertainment story going around. I seem to recall that I was at the software conference in Las Vegas when it all broke, as I remember flipping around the channels on a hotel TV and seeing his face on several of them, and thinking maybe he died. But no, he'd simply done his best to kill his career. And of course all of the accusations around The Passion of the Christ being anti-Semitic were brought up again, in case we'd forgotten.

Now, if you were living under a rock back in July, don't worry: Michael Richards decided to recreate it for you recently. Substitute "heckler" for "arresting officer", "blacks" for "Jews" and increase the number of witnesses exponentially. Did he not glean anything from the tale of Gibson the Jew-hater? Did he and his buddies sit around, back in the summer, laughing themselves stupid at how Mel had shot himself in the foot, and only a fool could make a mistake like that?

Or is this just the start of a new wave of celebrities speaking their minds (rather than issuing sound bytes about their latest project), and then scheduling apologistic tours for it later? Could this be the nouveau way to get your name in the news? "All publicity is good publicity" and all that. Can these guys count on the short memories of the public, or better yet, that people won't pass judgment on them based on their misbehaviour? "Oh, I know that Mel Gibson fellow hates all people of the Jewish faith, but I'm really looking forward to Lethal Weapon 7!" Yeah, they're probably right.