Mel Gibson trends on Twitter after being caught saluting Donald Trump

Mel Gibson has been trending on Twitter after he was caught on video saluting Donald Trump at the Conor McGregor fight.

Mel Gibson saluted former President Donald Trump when they crossed paths at Saturday’s MMA fight.

The Sun reports the moment unfolded as Trump walked by and waved to the crowd at UFC 264, flanked by bodyguards.

Lmao mel gibson saluted trump at ufc and got completely ignored pic.twitter.com/VFf42FQJqb

— Adam (@petsh0pboy) July 11, 2021

Gibson, who appeared to be only a few metres away from the former president, gave a distinct salute.

It occurred at Saturday’s UFC clash between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, who broke his leg in the first round after his left leg buckled from beneath him.

Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor.

Some dubbed Gibson a “patriot” for the act.

The actor is known for his leading roles in Lethal Weapon and Braveheart.

“Yoooooo!!! Is that Mel Gibson saluting President Trump?” one person tweeted.

“The Patriot Saluting President Trump,” they later added, attaching a video of the interaction.

There is no such thing as cancel culture if Mel Gibson isn’t cancelled by now.

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 13, 2021

Yup it’s Mel Gibson pic.twitter.com/0ELAtdiSbq

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 12, 2021

Gibson was videoed at other points of the fight as well.

“Hey, I want to see the rematch, you know best out of three,” Gibson said at one point. “I don’t care who wins. I just want to see a good match, and I’m sure it will be.”

Mel Gibson poses in the media room after winning the AACTA Award for Best Direction for Hacksaw Ridge.

While the salute was trending on Twitter, it received mixed reactions.

“Mel Gibson is who we thought he was,” another added.

Mel Gibson (R) and girlfriend Rosalind Ross.

Gibson has become a controversial character in Hollywood after making a series of antisemitic comments over the course of several decades.

He was cut from Netflix’s Chicken Run sequel after he was accused of making an antisemitic remark to co-star Winona Ryder in 1995. He apparently asked her if she was an “oven dodger.”

Winona Ryder made accusations against Mel Gibson that he allegedly called her an “oven dodger”.

The term “oven dodger” is a reference to the way Jewish prisoners were killed in Nazi death camps during WWII.

Ryder added that Gibson asked her gay friend: “Oh, wait, am I gonna get AIDS?”

Ginson strenuously denied the claims, saying they were “100 per cent” not true.

“She lied about it over a decade ago, when she talked to the press, and she’s lying about it now,” the reps said.

She also claimed Gibson once tried to make amends for offending her.

“Also, she lied about him trying to apologise to her back then. He did reach out to her, many years ago, to confront her about her lies, and she refused to address it with him,” his rep said.

Gibson separately faced criticism for his film The Passion of the Christ, which some called anti-Semitic.

Oksana Grigorieva and Mel Gibson in 2009.

Gibson was basically forced out of Hollywood after his infamous Malibu drink-driving arrest in 2006 during which he unleashed an anti-Semitic rant.

That was followed by leaked tapes in 2010 where Gibson screamed racist remarks, including using the n-word, at his then-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of one of his nine children.

She later alleged Gibson was physically abusive.

Gibson has a deep bench of Hollywood supporters, though, like close friends Jodie Foster, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robert Downey Jr., who urged the industry to give Gibson a second chance.

Jodie Foster has long been a defender of Mel Gibson with the two being close for years.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and is republished here with permission