Mel Gibson Addresses Accusations of Anti-Semitism

Oct. 12, 2006 — -- Actor-director Mel Gibson tells Diane Sawyer that he was "ashamed" by the remarks about Jews he made during his July arrest for driving while intoxicated.

In Part 2 of Sawyer's exclusive interview with Gibson, he addressed accusations that he was anti-Semitic.

Watch Part 2 of the interview on "Good Morning America" Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

The July incident wasn't the first time that Gibson -- or his elderly father, Hutton -- had been accused of anti-Semitism.

Both are members of an ultraconservative Catholic sect.

Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" was criticized by a number of religious leaders and anti-defamation groups who said the movie portrayed Jews as being responsible for the death of Jesus.

Hutton Gibson has publicly questioned the Holocaust, saying many of the claims are "fiction."

In the interview, when Sawyer pressed the actor about his father's beliefs, Gibson pushed back.

"We're talking about me right now," he said. "And me taking responsibility for my words and actions. And uh. … I'm certainly not going to use him, to sort of put anything off of me."

"Even if it's the explanation for what happened that night?" Sawyer asked.

"It isn't the explanation for what happened that night. It isn't. It has nothing to do with it. It's. … That's in my own heart," he said.

Gibson told Sawyer, however, that he realized why Jewish people perceived his drunken, bigoted outburst as a threat.

"I heard back that a woman who had read the apology actually wept with relief," he said. "Now, that sort of hit me. I was like, 'Relief? Oh, my God, she was afraid. She was terrified.'"

"I didn't think I realized until like a couple of. … Four days later, five days later, that what I did was press a big fear button."