Beth Chapman, Gloria Allred on Mel Gibson

All this week, Joy Behar has been analyzing, dissecting and shooting the breeze about the “alleged” Mel Gibson tapes, and while we thought some of the stuff being said was a little ridiculous, Wednesday’s installment really took the cake.

Before I recap, let me say that I view all the shock and outrage with a rather jaundiced eye, particularly from anyone over 30, because it would be pretty hard to convince me that anyone over that age hasn’t heard of or known someone who has not only been abusive in a relationship, but probably gotten away with it. But they’re all “shocked” and “can’t even listen” to Mel, and this is all post-OJ, not to mention other famous Hollywood fellows like Tom Neal, Spade Cooley, Phil Spector and that little rascal, Robert Blake. Yeah, he was acquitted but I viewed that acquittal with a jaundiced eye, too. And those are just the murderers, never mind the verbal abusers, batterers and child rapists.

Oh and initially, Fikkle Fame was skeptical that the tapes were really Mel Gibson too, but by now, we figure if they were fakes, Mel would be suing the principals of RadarOnline for their ass. Instead, the strategy seems to be to keep mum until the outrage subsides, then come up with a plausible condition and contrite apology, and pay Oksana whatever she wants.  So with that in mind, let’s see who Joy was outraging with.

On Monday, she said “I go on vacation for one week and all Mel breaks loose.” She had Insider host, Lara Spencer and writer/comedian, Mo Rocca. Lara said Oksana sounded like the GPS girl. Joy defended Oksana saying her first language is Russian, but Mo agreed Oksana sounded very automated. Mo also said he’d like to see a montage on the Oscars of Mel’s rants and questioned why the William Morris Agency didn’t drop Mel back in the 90s when he was making anti-Semitic slurs. Mo finds it very funny when Hollywood is in “high dudgeon,” probably for the same reasons we do — they’ve seen it all before and turn a blind eye whenever it is more profitable.

On Tuesday, Joy smilingly wonders whether punching a woman in the face is Freudian or Gestalt, then said “Mel Gibson has gone from the A list to the sh-t list faster than he can say the N word.” She plays a RadarOnline tape, says it sounds like “something from the Sopranos,” and is joined by attorney Debra Opri (James Brown estate case, Anna Nicole Smith case), A.J. Hammer of Showbiz Tonight and clinical psychologist, Jeff Gardere, host of VH1s “Dad’s Camp.”  They discussed the rage, the legal problems. Opri said Mel was making “terrorist” threats.  I always thought the charge was ‘terroristic’ threats, but no matter since Joy is always calling Oksana ‘Oksama.’

Then Joy wanted to know why Hollywood was being so quiet about the whole mess and brought out “people who actually will talk:” Manager /Producer Howard Lapides; Roy Sekoff, Founding Editor of HuffingtonPost.com and Marvet Britto, President and CEO of the Britto Agency. But we already knew the answer to that question – they’re turning a blind eye for now until they see which way the financial winds are blowing.

On Wednesday, Joy started out with Tony Potts from Access Hollywood; Nicole Laporte from “The Daily Beast” and psychiatrist, Dr. Gail Saltz. Joy wanted to get Dr. Gail’s expert opinion on whether Mel was bipolar or just a “nut job.” Dr. Gail said “you can`t know because we didn”t hear anything actually psychotic. What we heard was lack of judgment, out of control, impulsive behavior.” Joy didn’t think there’s any excuse even if he is bipolar and Nicole Laporte agreed, saying “that just explains it.” Tony Potts tried to contribute some “explanations” but Joy got all over him because it wasn’t like Whoopi Goldberg saying Mel isn’t racist. Whoopi, Joy said, was not defending Mel but only expressing her opinion based upon her personal friendship with Mel.  Joy seemed to think Tony was defending Mel when he tried to explain the difference between getting a cap knocked off and an actual tooth knocked out.

Then Joy brought out Mary Murphy, a domestic violence survivor and guest judge on “So You Think You Can Dance”; victim`s rights attorney, Gloria Allred and Beth Chapman, Dog the Bounty Hunter’s wife. Beth was in 3 abusive relationships before she hooked up with Dog. They delved into why the woman stays, what turns a man into a “Jekyll and Hyde” — usually an underlying substance abuse problem according to Beth, but not always, said Gloria.  Male chauvinism is, according to Gloria, a “mental health issue for men.” Gloria did bring up Mel’s racism but Joy went to commercial and changed the topic before anyone could remember Dog the Bounty Hunter’s 2007 N-word tape about his son’s black girlfriend.