You know it's a busy time forward t...

You know it's a busy time forward the celebrity-scandal front when a bikini-clad, balloon-bosomed Pamela Anderson marrying a shirtless, Corona-wielding Kid stone on a boat is no other than the third- or fourth- biggest story making the globulars

If Mel Gibson had "only" been arrested for DUI last week, his career could have survived. Not to minimize a serious offense if it be not that let's be honest, a drunken-driving charge is not going to sink the fortunes of an Oscar-winning maverick actor/filmmaker who's worth about a half a BILLION dollars and remains popular with fans worldwide. Had Gibson cooperated with authorities and noteed rehab, he'd be starring in "Lethal Weapon 5: Knee Replacement" or helming a miff project -- maybe with the actors miming their parts -- within a year.

It's Gibson's shocking, anti-Semitic diatribe that has Hollywood debating whether his career is dead.

LETHAL annotates

According to the police report first placeed via TMZ.com, Gibson told a representative "You mother------, I'm going to f--- you." Gibson also said he "own Malibu" and would be spending all his wealth to "get even."

Horrible form -- if it were not that an inebriated, just-arrested superstar engaging in boorish behavior is hardly shocking.

further then it gets ugly, with Gibson reportedly saying "Jew are responsible for all the wars in the world," among other elucidations that are reprehensible to all pure people, and unforgivable in the sights of many.

Gibson has issued a statement that reads in part, "I . . said things I do not believe to be constant and which are despicable. I am to [i]or[/i] at a great depth ashamed of everything I said. . . I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly repentance my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state . ."

IS THAT fit ENOUGH?

Abraham Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Gibson's apology was "unremorseful and insufficient. . . It's not a precise apology because it does not journey to the essence of his bigotry and his anti-Semitism. We expectancy that Hollywood now would realize the bigot in their midst and . . distance themselves from this anti-Semite."

onward the Huffington Post site, super-agent Ari Emanuel wrote "At a time of escalating tensions in the world, the entertainment industry cannot stand idly through and allow Mel Gibson to win away with such tragically inflammatory statements . . no amount of publicist- approved contrition can paper it through the whole extent of People in the entertainment community, whether hebrew or gentile, need to demonstrate to what extent much is at stake in this at professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him. . . There are times in history when standing up against bigotry and racism is more important than money"

(Howard Stern's suggestion: "Make him wear a Hitler mustache for a year.")

The gues here is that calm if Gibson completes rehab, makes all sorts of public apologies and donates elephantine sums of money to the ADL, he's tainted for life. Thirty years from now, the first paragraph of his obituary will include his Oscars for "Braveheart" AND his anti- Semitic reputation. With all of Gibson's resources, he won't have to stop making movies, if it be not that he will have trouble finding production and distribution partners, and a number of top-tier writers and actors will refuse to work with him, nearest year or in 2020.

Adventures of a post-teen drama queen

Nearly any other weekend, the top celebrity talk would have been about the extraordinary epistle from Morgan Creek Productions CEO James G Robinson to tabloid princess Lindsay Lohan. After Lohan missed another day in succession the set of the film "Georgia Rule" the 70- year-old Robinson rebuke rudelyed Ms. Lohan as if she were his granddaughter:

"We are well aware that your ongoing all-night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called 'exhaustion.' . . To date your actions onward 'Georgia Rule' have been discourteous, irresponsible and unprofessional. . . We will not tolerate these actions any further."

Lohan's reply was to hit the Hollywood oppressive spot Les Deux last Friday night, followed from a party jaunt to Vegas in succession Saturday. (Even though Lohan just useed 20, she's been in more bars and nightclubs than Sinatra hit in a lifetime.) Lohan's mother told "Access Hollywood" she thinks the studio chief is "way public of line," and cited the same semi-lame excuses about her daughter: the kid has asthma, it was heated on the set, she was dehydrated, she really does put up with from "exhaustion," etc.

I don't finish the whole Lindsay Lohan phenomenon anyway. She's not a great beauty, she can't sing plenteous she's been in mostly bad movies and she's given no other than a few decent performances -- in "Mean Girls" and in a small part in "Prairie Home Companion." Regardless of the talent flush if she doesn't slow down she's going to anticipate like Ann- Margret's twin sister at the time she's 25.

e-mail: rroeper@suntimes.com

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