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Winona Ryder claims Mel Gibson asked, 'You're not an oven-dodger, are you?' Gibson hits back hard.
Photo by John Phillips, Getty Images/Photo by Jeff Kravitz, FilmMagic/TheBlaze composite

Winona Ryder slams anti-Semitism in Hollywood, claims Mel Gibson asked, 'You're not an oven-dodger, are you?' Gibson hits back hard.

Ouch

Actress Winona Ryder says actor Mel Gibson made a variety of anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks while in her presence over the years.

Gibson, however, says it never happened.

What are the details?

In a new interview with the Sunday Times, Ryder — who is of Jewish heritage — said that she has experienced anti-Semitism in the entertainment industry.

"I have ... in interesting ways," she recalled. "There are times when people have said, 'Wait, you're Jewish? But you're so pretty!' There was a movie that I was up for a long time ago, it was a period piece, and the studio head — who was Jewish — said I looked 'too Jewish' to be in a blue-blooded family."

Ryder said that one of her biggest recollections in experiencing anti-Semitism in Hollywood took place with Gibson at a party.

"We were at a crowded party with one of my good friends," she recalled, "and Mel Gibson was smoking a cigar, and we're all talking and he said to my friend, who's gay, 'Oh wait, am I gonna get AIDS?' and then something came up about Jews, and he said, 'You're not an oven-dodger, are you?'"

Ryder said that Gibson later attempted to apologize, but the damage was done.

Has Gibson responded?

A spokesperson for the actor issued a statement on Ryder's allegations on Tuesday.

"This is 100 percent untrue," Gibson's rep insisted. "She lied about it over a decade ago, when she talked to the press, and she's lying about it now. Also, she lied about him trying to apologize to her back then. He did reach out to her, many years ago, to confront her about her lies, and she refused to address it with him."

Anything else?

This wasn't the first time Gibson was accused of anti-Semitism.

In 2006, authorities arrested Gibson on a DUI charge. During the arrest, Gibson famously blurted out "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world!"

Ten years after the incident that nearly ended his career, Gibson called his outburst "an unfortunate incident" that was apparently part of a "nervous breakdown."

"I was loaded and angry and arrested," he said. "I was recorded illegally by an unscrupulous police officer who was never prosecuted for that crime. And then it was made public by him for profit, and by members of — we'll call it the press. So, not fair. I guess as who I am, I'm not allowed to have a nervous breakdown, ever."

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