Mel Gibson to Testify Against Harvey Weinstein in Los Angeles

Mel Gibson can be called to testify against Harvey Weinstein at the producer’s upcoming Los Angeles rape trial, a judge ruled on Friday.

Prosecutors want to call the actor to support the allegations of Jane Doe 3, who claims that Weinstein sexually assaulted her after she gave him a massage at his hotel in 2010. According to Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez, the woman later told Gibson about the incident during a massage, and Gibson’s testimony would help buttress her allegation.

Judge Lisa B. Lench allowed prosecutors to call Gibson to the stand. She also denied a defense request that they be allowed to ask Gibson about racist and antisemitic statements he has made over the years. But the defense will be allowed to ask whether Gibson holds a grudge against Weinstein.

The defense argued that Gibson has ill will toward Weinstein dating from the release of “Passion of the Christ,” which was widely seen to play on antisemitic themes. Weinstein later published a book, “Perspectives on the Passion of the Christ,” that challenged the film.

“This created a feud between Mr. Gibson and Mr. Weinstein,” argued Mark Werksman, Weinstein’s attorney.

When Werksman inaccurately claimed that the film won an Oscar for best picture, Weinstein gestured no with his arms with a look of disdain.

Werksman also argued that Gibson is “now trying to rehabilitate his image by becoming a champion of the #MeToo movement.”

According to the attorneys, Gibson told investigators that Jane Doe 3 had a “PTSD reaction” when he brought up the name “Harvey” during a massage. Gibson was talking about Weinstein in the context of a business deal. The woman stopped the massage, started crying and “gave the idea that Weinstein sexually assaulted or groped her,” Werksman said.

Werksman argued that he should be allowed to confront Gibson about his antisemitic tirade that followed his 2006 arrest, as well as an antisemitic comment he allegedly once made to Winona Ryder and other racist statements.

“How is it relevant if he’s racist toward African Americans or Latinos?” Lench asked.

“It goes to his unwillingness to grant equal status to someone who is not of his ilk. He has a white-supremacist view,” Werksman responded. “Someone with white-supremacist values might have no problem perjuring himself against a Jewish defendant.”

Lench ultimately permitted the defense to ask Gibson about any animosity toward Weinstein.

“I’m not going to allow you to get into his other comments that may indicate his general demeanor about, as you say, ‘people who are not of his ilk,’” she said. “I will allow you to question him about whether or not there is personal animosity between the two of them.”

The judge later allowed the defense to state the name of a book, “Naked Massage,” that Jane Doe 3 was trying to publish with Weinstein’s help.

The court spent the first half of the day discussing Jane Doe 1,

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