Gibson Plea As Series Dropped

Mel Gibson yesterday asked the Jewish community for help on his "journey through recovery" after it emerged a TV series he was due to make about the Holocaust had been dropped following his drunken anti-semitic remarks.

The cancellation is the first sign that his outburst when he was arrested for drink-driving last Friday may affect his career. According to a report filed by the arresting officer, Gibson released a barrage of abuse about "fucking Jews" and declared: "Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."

The Oscar-winning actor said in a statement yesterday: "There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-semitic remark. I want to apologise specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested."

He denied being an anti-semite, adding: "I'm not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one-on-one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

"I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery ... I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, that would be understandable. But I pray that door is not forever closed."

His comments came after ABC said it had pulled plans for Gibson's Icon Productions to make a series based on the memoirs of an 81-year-old Dutch Jew about her life in the second world war.