Honoring ‘El Mel’

THE ENVELOPE, please. The award for the best example of cultural myopia in a drama goes to.... a group called the Latino Business Assn. Bowled over by Mel Gibson’s depiction of ancient Mayan civilization in his upcoming movie, “Apocalypto,” the association overlooked the actor/director’s odious anti-Jewish sentiments and bestowed on him its highest honor -- the unfortunately named Chairman’s Visionary Award.

On its website, the Los-Angeles based group gushes how proud it is to be the first organization to thank Gibson for his vision and courage in producing “Apocalypto.” How could all those other organizations have been so slow on the draw?

Also on the website, Rick Sarmiento, the group’s chairman, is quoted as saying that “Mr. Gibson is one of Hollywood’s best known actors, producers and directors, but he is so much more than this.”

Indeed he is.

“I am proud to claim that Mel Gibson is a friend to Latinos,” Sarmiento goes on to say. This is almost a parody of ethnic self-interest -- who cares that the movie star accuses Jews of being responsible for the ills of the world if he’s good to your people?

Sarmiento told us that Gibson deserves the award because his movie is good for Latinos. He also commends Gibson for not transporting a cadre of Hollywood types to Mexico, instead casting unknown Mexican actors and employing Mexican crews to work on the set.

If that’s all it takes to overlook its honoree’s notorious anti-Semitic ramblings this summer, the group is clearly a cheap date. How disgraceful for an organization ostensibly established to promote the businesses of an ethnic group still subject to discrimination and stereotyping.

Sarmiento said he saw the movie (due in theaters Dec. 8) on Monday and talked his board into giving the award to Gibson on Thursday. Amazingly, former A-listers with freakishly hateful views are available on short notice, at least once they’re out of their very public stint in rehab. Gibson, naturally, was thrilled to enjoy a momentary step away from his own personal apocalypse.

Distasteful individuals can produce great art. And “Apocalypto” may indeed treat Mayan history with the kind of respect it has long deserved. But it’s one thing to acknowledge a work’s artistic and cultural merits and quite another to proclaim Gibson a “visionary,” especially at a time when the immigration debate has reminded Latinos that virulent racism is only a few drinks away.