No Charges Will Be Brought Against Gibson

Updated: It looks like this publicity stunt did not pan out the way some had hoped.  According to WTVM, no charges will be brought against Mel Gibson due to lack of evidence.  State police said in a statement that “the matter was … investigated thoroughly.”

“At this stage, based on the evidence gathered, no formal action will be taken,” New South Wales Police said.

Previously: Well, how convenient is this?  Just as it emerged that Mel Gibson is making a World War 2 drama, one that is to be injected by money from the Australian government.  And just as it emerges that big players in China want Mel Gibson to get on board the biggest WW2 movie ever there.  And just as Mel Gibson is getting ready to release Blood Father…

… a photographer has claimed that Mel Gibson pushed and spat on her.

On Monday morning, Australian media outlets reported that the Oscar-winning actor and director had allegedly shoved, spat and shouted at News Corp Australia photographer Kristi Miller as she photographed him leaving the Palace Verona cinema in Paddington with his girlfriend, the US equestrian vaulter Rosalind Ross.

Miller told the Daily Telegraph, for whom she works: “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.”

But Gibson’s publicist Alan Nierob denied there had been any physical contact.

“Basically Mr Gibson and his friend were being harrassed 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.”