Last night, Hollywood honored Robert Downey Jr. (love him!) with the 25th annual American Cinematheque Award. There were a lot of speeches. laughs, and applause and then Mel Gibson got up and made a speech and presented Downey Jr. with the award. 
 
 During his acceptance speech, Downey Jr. alluded to his own checkered past and time spent in rehab and said that it was time for Hollywood to forgive Gibson, who also clearly struggles with substance abuse problems. Apparently the two actors are friends from way back (they starred in Air America together) and when Downey was down and out, it was Gibson who gave him a movie role (in the Singing Detective) and helped him put food on the table. Downey said all that Gibson asked in return was that Downey someday help out the next guy. Ironically," the next guy" turned out to be Gibson himself. The crowd gave Gibson a standing ovation. 
 
 Give me a freaking break. 
 
 Mel Gibson is no Robery Downey Jr. Sure they may both have struggled with addiction and maybe it interfered with their work ethic on the set or something, but that's where the similarities end. The reason Hollywood and the public "turned" on Mel, isn't because he's an addict, but because he's an A-hole (pardon my French). 
 
 If you remember, good 'ole Mel Gibson made anti-Semitic remarks to a cop after a drunk driving arrest. He cheated on Robin Gibson, his wife of 28 years with whom he had 7 children. He admitted he hit his girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva in the face while she was holding their baby daughter Lucia and left her sickening misogynistic, racist messages. He supposedly hit her so hard that he knocked her teeth out and gave her a concussion. Later, he said she deserved it. 
 
 The alcohol didn't do those things. The drugs didn't do those things. Mel Gibson said and did those things. They reveal his character -- who he is as a person. Certainly, Mel is to be commended for staying clean, but that doesn't make him a nice guy. 
 
 As far as I know, Robert Downey Jr. never hit a woman and said she deserved it, or hit a woman who was holding a baby, or made anti-Semitic remarks. He drank and did drugs and got arrested a bunch of times because of it. He probably let his co-workers down sometimes. But he wasn't a violent, nasty, woman hater. The things Robert Downey Jr. did are forgivable. The things Mel Gibson has done are not. 
 
 Do you think Hollywood should forgive Mel Gibson the way it did Robert Downey Jr.? 

 Robert Downey, Jr. begs Hollywood: 'Forgive' Mel Gibson 'and let him work' 
 
 Michael Germana/Everett Mel Gibson abd Robert Downey Jr. palled around on the red carpet at the American Cinematheque Awards on Friday in Beverly Hills. 
 
 Robert Downey, Jr. got a second chance from Hollywood, and now he wants to ask the same favor for Mel Gibson. 
 
 
 
 The "Iron Man" star accepted the American Cinematheque Award on Friday night, but instead of giving the usual thanks to his family and management team, he instead implored the audience to to forgive Gibson. 
 
 
 
 "Unless you are without sin -- and if you are, you are in the wrong f--king industry -- you should forgive him and let him work," Downey said of the "Lethal Weapon" actor, who famously went on a drunken anti-semitic tirade following a DUI in 2006. 
 
 
 
 MEL'S IN GOOD COMPANY -- BIGGEST CELEBRITY MELTDOWNS 
 
 
 
 Last year, Gibson's then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva recorded his menacing phone calls, in which he berated her and threatened physical violence. 
 
 
 
 "He taught me many things, and I will use the 'C' word -- courage," Downey said of his "Air America" co-star, who was standing to the side of the stage. "There's nothing so much wrong with him. Of course you have to worry about the guy making the judgment here. He's a good dude with a good heart. 
 
 
 
 REHAB WORKED FOR ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. ... BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE 
 
 
 
 "Mel and I have the same lawyer, same publicist, and same shrink," he continued. "I couldn't get hired and he cast me. He said if I accepted responsibility -- he called it hugging the cactus -- long enough, my life would take meaning. And if he helped me, I would help the next guy. But it was not reasonable to expect the next guy would be him."
– Mel Gibson now has someone other than Jodie Foster in his corner: Robert Downey Jr. "Unless you are without sin—and if you are, you are in the wrong f***ing industry—you should forgive him and let him work," RDJ said of Gibson while accepting the American Cinematheque Award Friday night. "He taught me many things, and I will use the 'C' word—courage," Downey said. Gibson, his Air America co-star, was standing nearby, the New York Daily News notes. "Mel and I have the same lawyer, same publicist, and same shrink. I couldn't get hired and he cast me," Downey recalled. "He said if I accepted responsibility—he called it hugging the cactus—long enough, my life would take meaning. And if he helped me, I would help the next guy. But it was not reasonable to expect the next guy would be him." Click to read why one blogger won't be giving RDJ what he wants.