Mel Gibson insists he did not push or spit at a female photographer in Sydney yesterday.
News Corp Australia photographer Kristi Miller has alleged she was assaulted by the Hollywood star while she tried to take pictures of him and his girlfriend. She claims Mel spat at her, shouted and shoved her as she attempted to photograph him and US equestrian vaulter Rosalind Ross while they left a cinema in Paddington, Australia.
Mel's publicist Alan Nierob has insisted there is no truth to the accusations.
"Basically Mr Gibson and his friend were being harassed by this photographer and he asked her repeatedly to stop, which she did not,” he told Guardian Australia. “There was never any physical contact whatsoever and the story being told by her is a complete fabrication of the truth."
Mel and his partner Rosalind had been watching David Oelhoffen’s film Far From Men before the alleged incident took place. There was a film festival happening at the venue, and so the pair also spoke to some of the waiting crowd.
Kristi went into extreme detail about what she claims happened, insisting she was left in shock after the alleged altercation.
"I took a photo of Mel and his girlfriend and when I turned around he shoved my back really hard... It shocked me because I wasn’t expecting it. I don’t know if it was his hands or elbow," she told Australian publication the Daily Telegraph.
"He was spitting in my face as he was yelling at me, calling me a dog, saying I’m not even a human being and I will go to hell. He swore and called me a ****. It was non-stop, he didn’t even breathe.”
She alleges the incident only ended when Rosalind managed to calm down Mel. Police have confirmed they are looking into an incident between a man and woman outside the cinema.
Mel is Down Under to work on Hacksaw Ridge, a movie he is directing and stars Andrew Garfield.
Mel has been accused of making outbursts in the past. In 2010 he hit the headlines after recordings of him using racist and sexist language towards his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva were leaked. In 2006 he was arrested for DUI and a tape of him launching into a tirade against the arresting officer, in which he used anti-Semitic language, was leaked.
