Mel Gibson caught on camera saluting Trump at UFC match
Controversial actor Mel Gibson saluted former President Donald Trump on Saturday when they both attended a UFC match near Las Vegas.
Gibson, known for starring roles in “The Patriot” and “Braveheart,” was captured making the military-style gesture to Trump as the former president walked through the crowd and waved.
The clip attracted widespread social media commentary as it circulated following Conor McGregor’s loss to Dustin Poirier.
Gibson, 65, was not previously a well-known Trump supporter. He dissed Trump’s plan for a US-Mexico border wall in 2016 and didn’t vocally back him in 2020 — unlike more forceful Hollywood Trump backers like Kirstie Alley and Jon Voight, who routinely promoted Trump’s re-election campaign.
Even actors Vince Vaughn and Kelsey Grammar were more open than Gibson about their support for Trump.
Gibson has not publicly explained his salute. He posted on Twitter, however, that he was at the UFC match with his sons Ed, Will and Tommy.
Trump is considering a rematch against President Biden in 2024.
Gibson gained a following among devout Christians through directing the 2004 film “The Passion of the Christ,” but he’s been socially stigmatized over a series of anti-Jewish remarks, including a drunken diatribe in 2006 in which he told a police officer, “F–king Jews … the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?”
Gibson claimed that infamous remark was “just the stupid ramblings of a drunkard,” but he later faced additional claims of anti-Jewish bias.
