'Black Swan' actress Winona Ryder says Mel Gibson called her 'oven dodger'
Mel Gibson is now being haunted by his anti-semitic comments. Black Swan actress Winona Ryder revealed that Gibson once called her an "oven dodger."
Winona relates in her interview for GQ magazine that the incident happened 15 years ago when she was attending a Hollywood party with a friend and Gibson was drunk at the time.
"I remember, like, 15 years ago, I was at one of those big Hollywood parties. And [Mel Gibson] was really drunk,' Ryder said.
"I was with my friend, who's gay. [Gibson] made a really horrible gay joke. And somehow it came up that I was Jewish... He said something about 'oven dodgers,' but I didn't get it."
"Oven dodgers" is a racial slur in reference to the method used by the Nazi where millions of Jewish prisoner during the World War II were sent to gas chambers to die. Gibson has a history of issuing controversial remarks that smacks of anti-Semitism.
The revelation is fast creating buzz in the Internet. Some fear that it might resurrect the focus on Gibson's anti-semtic tendencies. This could affect the success on his comeback film The Beaver which is set to open next year.
Winona is on a comeback herself after the shoplifting incident which caused her to maintain a low profile in Hollywood. Now, she is sporting a fuller figure and is fresh from the success of Black Swan. In the film, she plays a wash-up ballerina put into sidelines by the entrance of Natalie Portman's Nina. Her character in the Darren Aronofsky film shares similarities with Winona, and she thinks this is a "cool parallel."
"I thought it was a cool parallel. Being replaced by the young thing. I know that definitely happens in Hollywood. It's harder to find good roles, and suddenly there's new girls. I'm at that age I've been warned my whole life about," said Ryder.