Gary Oldman received ample backlash on Tuesday after he came out in defense of Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic rant in an interview with Playboy. Drawing criticism from fans and groups such as the ADL alike, Oldman has reached out with an apology.

Gary Oldman Apologizes

“I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people. Upon reading my comments in print — I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype,” Oldman wrote in his apology to the ADL. “Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter.”

Oldman continued, “If, during the interview, I had been asked to elaborate on this point I would have pointed out that I had just finished reading Neal Gabler’s superb book about the Jews and Hollywood, An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood. The fact is that our business, and my own career specifically, owes an enormous debt to that contribution.”

Oldman Defends Mel Gibson

Oldman’s original comments in the Playboy interview took issue with the hypocrisy of Hollywood and political correctness. Using Gibson as an example, Oldman went on a riff to make his argument.

"I don't know about Mel. He got drunk and said a few things, but we've all said those things. We're all f—ing hypocrites," Oldman told Playboy. "The policeman who arrested him has never used the word 'n—–' or 'that f—ing Jew'? I'm being brutally honest here. It's the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy.

"Mel Gibson is in a town that's run by Jews and he said the wrong thing because he's actually bitten the hand that I guess has fed him — and doesn't need to feed him anymore because he's got enough dough," Oldman added. "But some Jewish guy in his office somewhere hasn't turned and said, 'That f—ing kraut' or 'F— those Germans,' whatever it is? We all hide and try to be so politically correct. That's what gets me. It's just the sheer hypocrisy of everyone."

Oldman also had some course words about reality TV, helicopter parents, the Golden Globes and the pressure to vote for 12 Years a Slave to win the Best Picture Oscar, claiming, “If you didn't vote for 12 Years a Slave you were a racist.”

After admitting that a good chunk of his interview could make him come off as a bigot, Oldman told interviewer David Hochman, “It's dishonesty that frustrates me most. I can't bear double standards. It gets under my skin more than anything."

Before Oldman offered his apology to the ADL, his manager Douglas Urbanski defended him, brushing off assumptions that the actor is bigoted. “In this interview Gary is doing what many intelligent people do,” Urbanski told the Wrap. “He is illustrating the absurd by being absurd.”

The movie Oldman was meant to be promoting with his interview, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, hits theaters July 11.

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