Medved on CNN: "Michael Moore has done far more damage to the Jewish community ... than anything Mel Gibson has ever done"

Summary: While defending Mel Gibson on CNN's Paula Zahn Now, conservative radio host Michael Medved declared that "Michael Moore has done far more damage to the Jewish community, particularly regarding the issue of Israel, than anything Mel Gibson has ever done."

On the August 2 edition of CNN's Paula Zahn Now, conservative radio host Michael Medved dismissed as "ridiculous" Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel's call to "professionally shun[] [actor and director] Mel Gibson and refus[e] to work with him even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line" for recently making anti-Semitic remarks. Medved declared that Emanuel is "[filmmaker] Michael Moore's agent, and Michael Moore has done far more damage to the Jewish community, particularly regarding the issue of Israel, than anything Mel Gibson has ever done." Gibson has since apologized for his remarks.

Medved, who is also a film critic, defended Gibson's 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ (New Market Films), a film some critics charged was anti-Semitic. According to a September 15, 2004, Salon.com article, Medved, who is Jewish, said such accusations were "sick, twisted and demagogic," adding that "[t]he problem is not that people objected to the movie because it was anti-Jewish," but rather "because it was pro-Christian."

From the August 2 edition of CNN's Paula Zahn Now:

ZAHN: And now, I want to get our top story panel's take on Mel Gibson. Joining me from Seattle, nationally syndicated talk show radio host Michael Medved. Here in New York with me, image consultant Marvet Britto, and in Dallas, Phil Cooke, a consultant and producer at Cooke Pictures, based in Santa Monica. Glad to have all of you with us.

So, Michael, you've got a top Jewish Hollywood agent, Ari Emanuel, saying to folks in the entertainment business they should boycott his [Gibson's] project -- projects that is, even if it costs them money. Is he right?

MEDVED: No, he's ridiculous.

ZAHN: Why?

MEDVED: This happens to be Michael Moore's agent, and Michael Moore has done far more damage to the Jewish community, particularly regarding the issue of Israel, than anything Mel Gibson has ever done. Michael Moore --

ZAHN: You're not happy, Michael, about what Mel Gibson spewed, are you?

MEDVED: No, no, but it was a private incident. He never made the statement publicly, and no one has ever come forward and said, "You know, Mel Gibson was right, Jews really do start all the world's wars." The guy was drunk. He was being arrested. He acted like a boor. It probably shows that he has inner hatred. I do believe that the interest of my community, of the Jewish community is very strongly in not getting him to be more public with that hatred, but getting him to control it and tamp it down and maybe to change it. I think this whole issue, Paula, that the people are talking about, about trust, we're talking about a movie star, about a film director, not a rabbi, not a politician, not a statesman, somebody who makes movies.

ZAHN: I know, but we're also --

MEDVED: And if he makes good movies, everything will be fine.

ZAHN: But we're also living in a country where movie stars become role models for people.

—K.D.