Mel Gibson’s “bestial” alter-ego, Bjorn the Viking: “I imagine myself trying to bury him”
Anyone who’s ever accused Mel Gibson of being a terrible person must be feeling pretty stupid about themselves right now, since he may not have been responsible for any of those misdeeds when the real culprit was lurking in plain sight all along, by which we obviously mean Bjorn the Viking.
At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking, “What the fuck?” At second glance, you’d also be forgiven for thinking, “There’s surely no way that Mel Gibson, of all people, told the world that he battles an inner demon who resembles an ancient Northman who pillages and plunders, because that’s ridiculous.”
Just when you thought the two-time Academy Award winner’s antisemitic tirade during his 2006 arrest, the heinous voice recordings he left his then-partner, the no-contest plea to a misdemeanour battery charge, and the other various allegations that conspired to destroy his mainstream career were entirely of his own doing, think again.
Could it be that somebody else has been the devil on Gibson’s shoulder, the one who inspired him to call feminism a “term invented by some woman who got jilted” back in the 1980s, the same person who fired his female business partner because, in his words, “she was a cunt,” and responded to accusations of making homophobic comments by saying he’d “apologise when hell freezes over” and “they can fuck off” wasn’t the guilty party all along?
The answer, naturally, is no. However, in a bizarre, even by his standards, exchange with the Radio Times in 2001, a time when he was still one of the industry’s biggest and most bankable stars, Gibson filled everyone in on the existence of Bjorn, his so-called “bestial side,” who doesn’t sound like a nice chap.
“He’s got Viking horns, and I imagine myself trying to bury him, and he’s, like, in the grave, and I’ve packed dirt real tight on him, and I’m shovelling it down, when suddenly this hand starts appearing,” the original Mad Max detailed. “My insanity doesn’t come out very often, because to exist in society, you have to work on that and keep it in check.”
Well, Mel, your insanity is sure as shit showing here. Despite his best efforts at trying to prevent Bjorn from taking over and turning the wholesome, good-natured, and definitely inoffensive Gibson into a raving and ranting madman, he did suggest that his efforts haven’t always been as successful as he’d like.
“Why is it that people define me as a right-wing misogynist?” he asked. “It’s baffling. I’m not like that at all.” Yes, Mel Gibson, at no point has anyone ever called you a misogynist, you’ve never been accused of speaking to or behaving towards women in a negative manner, and the most right-wing of right-wing political figures in recent memory definitely did not appoint you as an ambassador to Hollywood.
“I guess it’s because I’m Catholic, have ideas on birth control, and used to joke about keeping women barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen,” he pondered, clearly battling against Bjorn’s latest takeover. “So it seems that I’m some sort of brute.” Remember, folks, none of what befell him was Gibson’s fault; it was Bjorn all along.
