Actor Mel Gibson's adopted gay brother
Andrew Gibson has defended him against accusations he's anti-gay, the
UK's The Sunday Times reported.
The 43-year-old Andrew Gibson said he
decided to step forward amid allegations by Russian pianist Oksana
Grigorieva that his brother is abusive. Gibson, 55, dated Grigorieva
after filing for divorce from his wife of 28 years, Robyn Gibson. In
2009, Grigorieva gave birth to Gibson's daughter, Lucia. The next
year, she obtained a restraining order against Gibson in which she
claimed he was abusive.
Andrew Gibson called alleged taped
conversations of his brother using abusive and racist language
forgeries.
“When I heard them I just thought,
'That isn't Mel.' He has never said anything abusive, aggressive or
racist in his life.”
He also defended his brother against
claims he's anti-gay.
“He's a straight man and he was
illustrating that fact,” Andrew Gibson said of comments the actor
made in 1991 to Spain's largest newspaper El Pais, in which he
said “They take it up the ass” when asked his opinion of
homosexuals. “In the same way a gay man wouldn't want to have sex
with a woman.”
“He never meant to upset anyone. I
have never once heard anything anti-gay come out of his mouth.”
(Mel Gibson has since said, “I
shouldn't have said it, but I was tickling a bit of vodka during that
interview, and the quote came back to bite me on the ass.”)
Andrew Gibson added that his brother
supported him when he came out gay more than two decades ago.
(Related: Winona
Ryder recalls Mel Gibson telling an anti-gay joke.)