Mel Gibson "Furious"

[Trigger warning for references to sexual assault and domestic violence.]

After getting, and then losing, a cameo in The Hangover 2, Mel Gibson is reportedly "furious" (how uncharacteristic of him, ahem) that he was given the boot (and replaced by Liam Neeson, sigh). As has been widely reported, some members of the cast were apparently unhappy at the prospect of working with Mel, for various reasons. Mel doesn't get it.

"He doesn't understand why Mike Tyson, a drug user who turned his life around, was given a chance while Mel was kicked to the curb. Everybody deserves a second chance," an insider told the New York Post.

Gibson has a point, even though Tyson was hardly just "a drug user who turned his life around." Tyson is a convicted rapist who has also assaulted former partners and bit the ear of a competitor.

I am incredibly curious why the cast members (*cough* Zach Galifianakis *cough*) who objected so bitterly to Gibson's cameo had no problem with Tyson's. Perhaps it is, as I suggested in comments, that it's possible Galifianakis objected to Mike Tyson, too, but, it wasn't, ironically, until the wild success of The Hangover that he had the leverage to object in a way that made a difference. (Although one notes if he did object, his paycheck was more important than appearing in a vehicle helping to rehabilitate a violent and dangerous man.)

Or perhaps it is, as I have noted before, the widespread belief that Tyson was unfairly convicted, because, in the rape culture, there are no guilty famous men. The "innocence" of famous men who are accused of rape is typically established by their almost universal acquittal, a form of "proof" rooted in the premise that men who are convicted will be presumed guilty. But they are not, of which Tyson is a prime example. Despite having been convicted and serving prison time, he's still not regarded as a rapist: He was railroaded.

Whatever the reason, it does indeed seem like a double-standard that Tyson was welcomed with open arms and Gibson was not.

Although, unlike Mel Gibson, I don't believe that hypocrisy earns him his cameo. I believe it further indicts the decision to have given one to Tyson.