Steven Spielberg Letter to Mel Gibson

Netlore Archive: Circulating via email, a letter purportedly written by Steven Spielberg taking Mel Gibson to task for making anti-Semitic remarks during his arrest for drunk driving in August 2006.

Description: Email hoax
Circulating since: August 2006
Status: Fake (see details below)

Example:
Email text contributed by Barry G., Aug. 17, 2006:

THE FOLLOWING LETTER WAS WRITTEN BY STEVEN SPIELBERG Please forward if you agree........... August 1st 2006 Dear Mr. Gibson, I am one Jew who doesn't accept your apology today. I don't accept it, because you have spit on the graves of the Goldwyns, the Warners, the Mayers, the Cohns, the Foxes, the Thalbergs, the Selznicks, the Zukors and the thousands of other Jews both living and dead who have made your questionable career possible. When you do get out of "rehab" and recount your millions, please consider how much of your fortune you would have if you had made your true feelings known, when you were starting out in the film industry. You are a despicable human being, one that doesn't even have the sense to realize that he has repeatedly bitten the hand that fed him. Whatever you (or your publicity agents) say today, does not even begin to redress your long standing theories about the Jewish people. Apparently the apple does not fall far from the tree. If you haven't yet distanced yourself from your father's views of the Holocaust, why should the Jewish community meet with you, or believe anything you have to say now. Your words are a thinly veiled attempt to admit that you really messed up this time, and you want to cover yourself, so that you can continue to be adored and further your revenue stream. The truth is, you are an unreformed, unrepentant anti semite of the worst kind, and your hollow outreach is worth less than the price of your next drink, which will surely find itself in your hands before long. I'm buying. Of course, if I am wrong, you could start by donating $1,000,000 today to the State of Israel in her time of need. Surely that is a small public relations price to pay for a man of your stature who "honors all of God's children". Steven Spielberg New Rochelle, NY

Analysis: I spoke by phone with Steven Spielberg's publicist, who told me the acclaimed director of Schindler's List and Munich did not write this letter.

Who did write it remains a mystery — all the more so because some copies are signed "Steven Silberberg" instead of "Steven Spielberg." In any case, Spielberg the film director resides in southern California, not New Rochelle, New York. One would assume he knows his own address.

To date, Mr. Spielberg has not spoken publicly about Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade following his arrest for drunken driving in July 2006 ("The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," he reportedly said to the arresting officer. "Are you a Jew?"), nor his subsequent apology, so we don't know to what extent, if any, Spielberg might agree with the sentiments expressed in the letter falsely attributed to him. Apart from a strongly worded statement by show biz agent Ari Emanuel calling for the industry to "shun" Mel Gibson, the bright lights of Hollywood have, for the most part, remained mute on the subject.

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Sources and further reading:

Mel Gibson Arrested for DUI
People magazine, 28 July 2006
Gibson: 'I Am Not an Anti-Semite'
CNN, 29 July 2006

Official Police Report Includes Gibson's Remarks
Associated Press, 31 July 2006

Hollywood's Cowardice
Washington Post, 9 August 2006

Last updated: 08/22/06

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