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Mar 23, 2007 2:17 pm US/Eastern
Mel Gibson Drops F-Bomb On Mayan Expert
Professor Accused Director Of Racial Stereotyping In "Apocalypto"
(CBS)
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Mel Gibson responded, "Lady, f--- off" to the expert. (File)
CBS
Mel Gibson reportedly shouted an expletive at a Mayan culture expert when he was a guest at a film class at Cal State University at Northridge on Thursday, the Web site TMZ reports.
The Web site reports that Alicia Estrada, the assistant professor of Central American Studies at the university, allegedly accused the "Apocalypto" director of racially stereotyping the Mayans in his movie.
She asked him if he had read a book about the culture before making the film. Estrada apparently persisted on the issue to which Gibson responded, "Lady, f--- off."
"(Estrada) was questioning the sources of the movie and he was really upset and using profanities," Douglass Carranza, a professor who attended the event, told The ShowBuzz on Friday.
Gibson was arrested last summer for driving while intoxicated. Controversy erupted when he spewed anti-Semitic slurs at the arresting officer.
The Web site said that the actor-director was fuming when members of the Mayan community protested about how they were portrayed in the epic.
Carranza said Estrada and other members of the Mayan community were escorted out of the class when the incident occurred.
"There are times that he will be exposed to academic critique and he didn't like that, apparently, and he was upset," said Carranza. "He needs to apologize not only to the professors, to the Central American Studies program, but also to the Mayan community for saying things that are inappropriate."
Carranza, the coordinator of the Central American Studies program at the university, said he did not know specifically what expletives Gibson used. But he said Estrada wants an apology.
Estrada could not be reached for comment.
Gibson's publicist, Alan Nierob, told TMZ: "This person was a heckler who was rude and disrupted the event, so much so that the event organizers had to escort her out."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
