A reader of EOnline makes a solid point and follows with a pointed question:  Charlie Sheen gets in trouble–again–and nothing happens to him. Meanwhile, Mel Gibson gets fired from a cameo. Why the double
standard?

EOnLine’s answer person responds by comparing the two stars’ public scandal sheets — which amounts to a clash of the titans.

In this corner Charlie Sheen: Looking back beyond this latest incident, the star has been accused of assaulting two wives (his ex Denise Richards and his current spouse Brooke Mueller).

EOnLine, BTW, doesn’t even mention Sheen’s accidental shooting of former fiancée Kelly Preston (Now Mrs. John Travolta) or his nutty contention that 9/11 was an inside job.

In the other corner Mel Gibson: His rap sheet includes a drunk driving incident in which he slurred some anti-Semitic slurs and, more recently, phone recordings in which he is apparently heard verbally abusing and threatening his ex-girlfriend (and mother of his child).

The respective fallouts: Sheen somehow gets a hefty raise for his work on CBS’ Two and a Half Men while Gibson is dropped by his big-time Hollywood agency and gets his cameo nixed in Hangover 2.

EOnLine contends that the chief reason for the differing reactions is fact that Gibson’s spectacles have been more well documented (i.e. voice recordings) thereby making them seem more real and personal to the public.

I’m not accusing EOnLine of deliberate misdirection but I think that the questioner was actually asking about the difference in Hollywood’s reactions rather than the general public’s. And, on that score, I think there are at least two additional pertinent elements.

The first is that Edge of Darkness, Gibson’s supposed would-be comeback vehicle, dropped off the edge of the box office cliff while Sheen’s Two and a Half Men continues to draw big ratings on television. It is show business, after all.

Secondly, I don’t think you can discount industry’s continuing resentment over Gibson’s making of The Passion of the Christ in 2004. The film was embraced by Christian conservatives but condemned by Hollywood’s elite over alleged anti-Semitism and graphic violence (and we all know how Hollywood deplores graphic violence).

The fact that the public apparently disagreed (making Passion one of the biggest worldwide box office hits of all time) only enraged Tinseltown’s power brokers further. But the film’s financial success meant that Gibson’s critics would have to await for another opportunity to pounce.

Unfortunately, he more has than provided them with opportunities — first with his 2006 DUI arrest and, this year, with nasty phone recordings that seem to reveal a very dark side to his personality. (Note: It has been suggested that the tapes are doctored. That strikes me as unlikely but how should I know?)

I’m not defending the actions of either man — or, for that matter, condemning either one of them — but I can’t help but wonder if the entertainment industry’s reactions to their respective situations doesn’t have less to do with what they actually did or said than the world view each represents — right-wing Christian in the case of Gibson, secular progressive in the case of Sheen.

As I wrote earlier, both Sheen and Gibson are human beings who (regardless of where they are on the political or theological spectrum) deserve our prayers. I hope they both get whatever help they need and straighten themselves out.