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Mel Gibson tested Covid-19 positive in April, spent a week in hospital getting treated with drug Remdesivir

'He was treated with the drug Remdesivir, while in the hospital, and has tested negative numerous times since then as well as positive for the antibodies,' a representative said
PUBLISHED JUL 24, 2020
Mel Gibson (Getty Images)
Mel Gibson (Getty Images)

Mel Gibson's reps have confirmed the star was hospitalized for a week after contracting COVID-19 earlier this year. “He tested positive in April and spent a week in the hospital," a spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph Australia. "He was treated with the drug Remdesivir, while in the hospital, and has tested negative numerous times since then as well as positive for the antibodies.”

This comes almost a month after the 64-year-old Hollywood legend faced backlash over allegations of antisemitism and homophobia by fellow actress Winona Ryder. The outrage resulted in Gibson being axed from Netflix's 'Chicken Run' sequel after he reported made "an anti-semitic remark" to her more than 25 years ago.

Mel Gibson (L) and Rosalind Ross attend Michael Muller's HEAVEN, presented by The Art of Elysium, on January 5, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)

Winona, 48, opened up about the incident in an interview with the Sunday Times, claiming Mel asked her if she was a Jewish "oven dodger" at a party. "We were at a crowded party with one of my good friends and Mel Gibson was smoking a cigar," the 'Stranger Things' actress recalled. But at some point later, according to the actress, the topic of "Jewish faith came up" and Mel allegedly asked her, "You’re not an oven dodger, are you?"

According to The Sun, the term "oven dodger" is a derogatory reference to the way Jews were incinerated in Nazi Germany's death camps. However, a representative for Gibson deemed the allegations "100% untrue" and accused Ryder of lying “about it over a decade ago, when she talked to the press, and lying about it now." Speaking to The Sun, the rep explained that Mel had reached out to Winona when the accusations were first reported in 2010, and at that time "she refused to address them with him.”

In response, Ryder refused to retract her allegations but wished Gibson “well on this lifelong journey." This was, however, not the first time the 'Braveheart' star has been accused of anti-Semitism.

Gibson faced a major backlash for his 2004 blockbuster 'The Passion of the Christ' after many deemed it anti-Semitic. The Anti Defamation League took issue with the movie, saying it “could likely falsify history and fuel the animus of those who hate Jews."

In another yet allegation that surfaced in 2015, Gibson was accused of downplaying the number of Jews killed in the holocaust during a 2013 interview for speechwriter Peggy Noonan’s ‘Reader’s Digest’. “I mean when the war was over they said it was 12 million. Then it was six. Now it's four. I mean it's that kind of numbers game," he reportedly said during the interview. And during a DUI stop in 2006, he reportedly told California police officers that Jews were "responsible for all the wars in the world."

American actor Mel Gibson poses at the Coogee Beach swimming pool in 1982 in Australia. (Getty Images)

Most recently, Gibson scored commercial success playing Mark Wahlberg's father in 2017 sequel Daddy’s Home 2. He also won critical acclaim for his performance in 2018 thriller 'Dragged Across Concrete'. Gibson's passion project 'The Professor and the Madman' was mired in legal dispute for three years before a small-scale release in 2019. It was later reported that the Hollywood veteran and the film's original director had disowned the final product.

Aside from Gibson, other famous actors to have contracted COVID-19 include Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Idris Elba, Marianne Faithfull, and Olga Kurylenko.

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