ABC Pulls Out of Gibson Holocaust Mini-Series

BURBANK, August 2: ABC will
not proceed with a planned mini-series project with Mel Gibson on the
Holocaust, wire reports indicate, following his drunken anti-Semitic remarks at
the end of last week.

On July 28, the movie star
was arrested in Malibu on suspicion of drunk driving. The arresting officer has
said that Gibson told him, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the
world," before asking, "Are you a Jew?"

Gibson has been
apologizing in the press ever since and has admitted himself into an alcoholism
treatment program.

The actor and director had
been developing with ABC and his Icon Productions a mini-series about Flory A.
Van Beek, a Dutch Jew who survived World War II. In a statement to Bloomberg
News, ABC noted, “Given that it's been nearly two years and we have yet to see
the first draft of a script, we have decided to no longer pursue this project
with Icon.”

Parent company Disney,
meanwhile, still plans to release Gibson’s new film Apocalypto on December 8.