Gary Oldman. Photo: Wikipedia.

Actor Gary Oldman has come under fire for defending Mel Gibson’s past anti-Semitic comments in a recent interview with Playboy magazine.

Jewish human rights group the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) accused the British actor of anti-Semitism himself for saying, “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.”

“I don’t know about Mel. He got drunk and said a few things, but we’ve all said those things,” Oldman also said. “We’re all f*****g hypocrites. That’s what I think about it. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word n****r or that f*****g Jew? I’m being brutally honest here. It’s the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy.”

In response, ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said, “Gary Oldman’s remarks irresponsibly feed into a classic anti-Semitic canard about supposed Jewish control of Hollywood and the film industry.”

Foxman continued, “He should know better than to repeat and give credence to tired anti-Semitic tropes. 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 ADL said the assertion that Jews “control” Hollywood, the media, and banking and finance, among other things, is an anti-Semitic stereotype based on the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, the 19^th century anti-Semitic forgery that suggested Jews conspire to control major industries such as banking and finance.

Gibson was arrested in 2006 for drink driving and climaxed an angry tirade to the arresting officer with “F*****g Jews… the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?” Gibson subsequently apologized for the offensive remarks.