Mel Gibson, actor and director, publicly criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday, calling them “incompetent” and urging Angelenos to vote them out according to Patch.
Gibson made the remarks during an interview with Raymond Arroyo on Arroyo’s podcast, which was also broadcast on Fox News and posted to YouTube. The comments came amid ongoing anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.
“Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have already proven their incompetence and poor leadership during the Los Angeles wildfires,” Gibson said during the recorded interview.
Gibson, known for directing Braveheart (1995) and The Passion of the Christ (2004), as well as starring in the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon franchises, has long been outspoken about his political views and support for President Donald Trump. He was previously named a “special ambassador to Hollywood” by Trump before the 2017 inauguration.
The actor, who faced public scrutiny following a 2006 drunk driving arrest and antisemitic remarks, continued his criticism of California leadership.
“Now, as we experience rampant lawlessness and civil unrest, it’s never been more clear — California is in a state of turmoil,” he said. “And I ask my fellow Angelenos why Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass are still in office. How much more of their destructive decision-making masquerading as leadership are we going to tolerate?”
He urged voters to “take back our community and our state and put the power and the privilege in the hands of competent leaders whose goals are to protect us and the way of life this nation was founded upon and promises to offer.”
Raymond Arroyo echoed Gibson’s comments during a Fox News broadcast alongside Kayleigh McEnany, saying, “Newsom’s out there saying that Donald Trump… ‘is an authoritarian, a threat to democracy.’ No, lawlessness and anarchy that you’re fueling, that is a threat to democracy. That is indeed the ultimate undermining of democracy, when you can’t protect your people.”
Governor Gavin Newsom has not directly responded to Gibson’s comments. In a separate statement to Fox News, he blamed Trump for unrest in Los Angeles and criticized the deployment of federal troops.
“The deployment of federal soldiers in L.A. doesn’t protect our communities – it traumatizes them… this is not public safety, this is tyranny,” Newsom said, as he awaited a federal appeals court ruling on the legality of the California National Guard deployment.
This is not Gibson’s first public rebuke of state leadership. After losing his home in the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year, he again blamed Newsom and Bass.
“Gov. Newsom and Karen Bass let us all down,” he said. “California was ill-prepared and had scant resources to deal with the inevitable fires. They knew that. So are we supposed to believe our elected officials didn’t know that?”
In the lead-up to Trump’s presidency, Gibson, along with Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone, was named one of Trump’s “special ambassadors to Hollywood.” Trump described the trio as his “eyes and ears,” pledging to support U.S. film production and revive a new “Golden Age of Hollywood.”
However, according to later reports, the initiative yielded little follow-through, with few in the industry hearing from the ambassadors.
More recently, Jon Voight publicly criticized Newsom, calling him a “lying dog” and a “fool” in an online video.
“What are you doing for the destruction of these animals destroying Los Angeles? Are you there, talking calmly with them, you fool! They would burn you down like they’re burning the cars and the American flag, with no regard for humanity. This is not about Trump. This is about protecting the people from these animals and criminals trying to destroy us,” Voight said.
