• gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Until producers stop giving him money and actors refuse to work with him he’ll continue spreading hate, the guy has been an obvious bigot and moron his entire life

      • Soup@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        “I separate people and their art” people are the fuckin’ worst and huge part of the problem, too, since they don’t do a damn thing to incentivise those losers to stop what they’re doing, either.

        When I learned that “Sweet Home Alabama” was in bitter response to Neil Young’s “Southern Man” I just stopped listening to it. There is so much music in the world, I’ve been fine without Lynyrd Skynyrd. I also don’t think I’ve ever seen a Mel Gibson movie and I seem to be ok.

        • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          This might be an unpopular opinion, but I would say that “Sweet Home Alabama” is very different. It was not written bitterly and it was written by a bunch of Neil Young fans (and Neil himself loved the song). The point of “Sweet Home Alabama” was to show that there were people who grew up in the South who weren’t racist, who acknowledged and decried the racist history of the South, but who also felt resentment at being lumped in with the racists, past and present. Being both proud of being from the South and ashamed of being from the South at the same time even has its own term, coined AFAIK by the band The Drive-By Truckers: “the duality of the Southern Thing.”

          There are plenty of artists and musicians that should just be written off, but I don’t think Skynyrd is among them. They were actually relatively progressive for their background and were trying to paint a fairly sophisticated and balanced story; it’s not their fault that their fanbase evolved into a bunch of racist assholes who preempted the song for their own causes, especially since the heart and soul of the band died in a plane crash in 1977. But that’s just my two cents as a huge music fan who grew up listening to Skynyrd in the 90’s.

          • Soup@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            They heard “Southern Man” and went so hard “not all southerners” that they even included the line directly telling Neil to fuck off. One of their black back-up singers went on to cover “Southern Man” as a little bit of a personal win for her. Lynyrd Skynyrd could have done a million things that weren’t that in response but instead they wrote that little piece of whiny-baby bullshit. They did it all on their own, without their base needing to misinterpret anything. Fuck ‘em, I got loads of fantastic music to listen to without giving that one any of my time.

            People have literally died for their rights and we’re so damned soft we can’t even just consume different yet equally good, or better, media and that’s fuckin’ weak. Sometimes we aren’t given much choice but it’s not like we’re hurting for high-quality music, TV, and literature. It’s so fucking easy.

            • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              2 months ago

              They also can’t really claim they weren’t the same, when they constantly used Confederate imagery to sell shit.

          • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            This is such a horseshit take.

            The entire song is a screed to southern ignorance including the gem “Watergate does not bother me”

            These assholes are part of the reason we ended up with trump.

            Get fucked.

            • BossDj@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              “Watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you?”

              Bother in this case means he’s not losing sleep at night over it due to any regrets. This was all Northern people being corrupt. An answer to southerners being bad and evil.

              It was not meant to be interpreted as they don’t care

          • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            2 months ago

            Maybe Lynyrd Skynyrd shouldn’t have constantly used the Confederate Battle Flag and other Confederate imagery if they didn’t want to be lumped in with the racists.

            Just a thought.

            • Zombie-Mantis@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              It was bad, but mind the cultural context they it was widely considered the “southern” flag (by southern whites) which just happened to also have been used by the Confederacy. There was a century of pro-Confederate propaganda we were raised under, and we’ve only recently reckoned with that.

              A lot of those same people who flew it when they were kids decades ago denounce the thing today, thankfully.

        • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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          2 months ago

          Eh, Mad Max, Road Warrior, and Beyond Thunderdome are classics. Lethal Weapon was good.

          He was even decent in the John Wick flashback “The Continental”.

          • Soup@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I haven’t seen ‘em and I’m doing perfectly ok. And guess what, I didn’t know he was involved and now I’m gunna not watch ‘em even harder. It’s just that easy.

          • Gamoc@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Beyond Thunderdome is a bit shit to be honest, but I wouldnt say Mel Gibson can’t act or hasn’t been in good films. I just don’t want to have to stare at his racist fucking face.

        • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          When I learned that “Sweet Home Alabama” was in bitter response to Neil Young’s “Southern Man”

          You didn’t learn that the first time you heard the song, where its laid out plainly in the lyrics?

          • Soup@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I was a lot younger when I first heard it. I did think it was a little weird but not enough for that young Canadian white boy to really have too much of an opinion. The only “plainly laid out” reference to “Southern Man” is a single line referring to this “Neil” I also didn’t really know anything about at the time.

            • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her

              Well, I heard old Neil put her down

              Well, I hope Neil Young will remember

              A Southern man don’t need him around, anyhow

              I get that you were a kid when you first heard it, but it’s absolutely all laid out in plain English. They even referenced the song itself.

              • Soup@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                Bro I was a kid and didn’t know what “Southern Man” even was, either, and the concept of a person from the south isn’t exactly unique to the song by that name.

                Christ, you’re an asshole.

                • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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                  2 months ago

                  I’m not criticizing you for misunderstanding it as a kid. You’re not a kid anymore. You just said, as an adult, that the only reference was a single line with the word Neil in it. That’s wrong. If you can’t handle being corrected when you say something wrong maybe the internet isn’t for you.

    • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      We don’t have the celebrity thing you have in the US here, so I only see bits and pieces of this, but his (and several others, really) spiralling into insanity has been quite bizarre to witness. First into extreme bizarro religion and then (predictably) into far right politics.

      As is often the case, the rejection just entrenches his beliefs.

      I wish I knew how people started falling into that kind of mental trap. I’m not sure he was always like that (or maybe he was, I don’t know the guy).

  • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    You mean the same guy who said he hopes his (then) partner gets “raped by a pack of n****rs” isn’t voting for Kamala? I’m shocked I tell you.

    He’s been unhinged for years, we should have cancelled him decades ago and let Mel succumb to his own alcoholism.

      • Wrench@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        TBF, Australia has a really big problem with racism. Against immigrants in particular.

        As an American that traveled there 2 years ago on vacation, it was typical for them to ice break with “so how about them immigrants” after they found out we were American (and assumed all Americans are Texans I guess, by the stereotype they were expecting)

    • d00phy@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Not defending the guy, but he has not at all been out of work. He just hasn’t been in movie theaters nationwide. He’s been in plenty of stuff recently. John Oliver even mentioned how crazy it’s been that he’s been so busy despite all the racist and antisemitic rants he’s had.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Mel should do the right maga thing. As a immigrant he should self deport himself.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Uhhhhh… well this is embarrassing. He didn’t do an ‘‘insane’’ rant. He did a BONKERS rant. Uncle Baby Billy can clear up the difference if you need more info.

  • elliot_crane@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    (plays William Wallace)

    (endorses authoritarian candidate)

    At the very least the man is skilled at pretending to be someone he’s not. That’s about all he’s got going for him.

      • pyre@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I don’t care, man, braveheart was fucking dope. plus that’s very reductive, it’s a very personal story as well in many ways. there’s friendship and love and :.|:; and betrayal and revenge. it really hits hard on an emotional level in so many scenes. two or three that made me cry, a number of fuck you moments and a bunch of fuck yeah moments. it has so many perfect setup and payoff arcs that more recent insanely popular media severely lacks, like breaking bad or Harry Potter.

        Gibson is an absolute piece of shit but it’s a shame that he’s actually talented, unlike a crushing majority of these hogs.

        • TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I like that part where the king pushes his sons gay lover out the window.

          Good movie but totally agree, Gibson is so talented he’s succeeded despite his wacko beliefs.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The funny bit is that everyone already knew he was a far right extremist politically and religiously, it’s just HOW he expresses himself that’s blowing up in his face.

    • Cheems@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      No, but I’m shocked he didn’t, he’d probably get a standing ovation from the right and be among the elite right aside the my pillow guy and Elon.