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Hi Warriors, welcome to One in Three.
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I'm your host, ingrid.
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Domestic abuse isn't always violence, but most of the stories we hear about are.
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Before I get into today's episode, I want to bring up a few statistics again.
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A weapon is used in 19% of domestic violence situations.
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The risk of homicide increases by 500% when a gun is present.
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Homicide victims can go beyond the abused victim.
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20% of intimate partner violence.
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Homicides involve people who intervene, including family members, friends, neighbors, law enforcement and bystanders and bystanders.
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Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva went public with their romantic relationship shortly after Gibson finalized his divorce from Robin Moore in 2009.
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By the end of that same year, the couple welcomed a baby girl.
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While reports initially described the two as being deeply in love, things took a dark turn on January 6th 2010.
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In a video interview, oksana admitted she had seen flashes of Gibson's temper before, but the events of January 6th marked a severe escalation.
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She claimed that during a heated altercation, Gibson punched her in the face while she was holding their two-month-old daughter, and this resulted in breaking two of Oksana's teeth.
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Now, I didn't find this in every source, but there were some sources that reported that Gibson also pulled one of his guns as Oksana escaped from the room.
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Over the next few months, a battle ensued regarding custody, child support and financial arrangements.
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Initially, many dismissed Oksana's allegations of abuse.
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That is until recorded phone conversations were released to the public.
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Oksana said she recorded the calls out of fear, believing her safety and the safety of their daughter were at serious risk.
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She claimed Gibson had made death threats against her.
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She was granted a temporary restraining order against him in June and, from what I can gather, gibson also filed one against her.
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At one point, gibson offered Oksana a $15 million payout.
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I'm not sure if this offer came before he learned of the recordings or as an attempt to prevent the release.
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Regardless, the tapes were released and the $15 million offer was withdrawn.
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The recordings were first made available through Radar Online.
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While the original audio is no longer accessible on their site, partial transcriptions remain.
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I was able to locate and listen to some excerpts of the conversations, though, on other news platforms, and following is a summary of the content of those recordings.
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Gibson, listen to my fucking ranting.
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Listen to what you do to me.
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Oksana, you need medication.
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Gibson, I need a woman.
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I don't need medication, you need a fucking bat in the side of the head.
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How about that, oksana, you were hitting a woman with a child in her hands.
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You.
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What kind of man is that?
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Hitting a woman when she's holding a child in her hands, breaking her teeth twice in the face?
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What kind of man is that, gibson?
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Oh, you're all angry now.
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You know what you fucking deserved it, oksana.
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You're going to answer one day, boy.
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You're going to answer, gibson, I'll put you in a fucking rose garden, you cunt.
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You understand that, because I'm capable of it.
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You understand that Later in the tape, he also threatens to burn her house down.
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Now there was a series of six tapes released.
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It appears they were all from the same conversation, but I might be wrong on that.
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Anyway, here's more of what was said that.
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Anyway, here's more of what was said.
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Oksana, you cannot raise the child with these symptoms.
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Gibson, what, oksana?
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You're acting as a crazy man right now, and you have been for many, many months and you hit me and you hit her while she was in my hands.
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Mel, you're losing your mind.
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You need medication, gibson.
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You need a fucking kick up the ass for being a bitch, cunt's, gold digging whore with a pussy son, and I want my child and no one will believe you.
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So fuck you.
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I'm not giving you my house and you can rot unless you crawl back, suck my cock and say you're sorry.
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In that order, do you understand me?
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You fucking offend my fucking maleness, my masculinity, my being, my soul.
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Oksana, I'm just saving my child's life because you are a monster, that's all.
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You're a monster.
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I'm not sure where the following statements occur within the conversation, but I believe they are important to include because they reveal Gibson's blatant disrespect toward women.
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Gibson fake tits Like there's some special deal.
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How much do they cost those fakers?
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You go out in public and it's a fucking embarrassment to me.
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You look like a fucking bitch on heat and if you get raped by a pack of N-words it will be your fault.
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So Gibson was interviewed at some point after this and he was asked if he thought his conversations would be made public.
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His response was who anticipates being recorded?
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Who anticipates that?
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Who could anticipate such a personal betrayal?
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Yeah, you were betrayed.
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Gibson eventually admitted to slapping Oksana with an open hand.
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His reasoning since there is always a reason for abuse was because she was becoming hysterical.
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He merely wanted to calm her down.
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In 2011, gibson pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of domestic violence against Oksana and he was sentenced to three years probation, counseling and community service.
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Oksana's original $15 million settlement was reduced to $750,000, with the understanding she could never speak publicly about her allegations.
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After receiving a third of that amount, she appeared on a Howard Stern show.
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Howard had said Anyone who's been through what you've been through with Gibson, you ought to be full of hope, because it's the only way to be.
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You got to look ahead, to which Oksana replied you know what you have to embrace your experience and even it doesn't matter how painful it might be at the time and the darker experience learn from it.
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Hopefully.
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Her comment was found to be in violation of her agreement, so Gibson did not have to pay the remaining $500,000.
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Did not have to pay the remaining $500,000.
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You may be wondering why I'm summarizing this specific story, and it's because it didn't end there.
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Now let me get a little official sounding here for a moment.
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In 1968, following the assassination of President John F Kennedy, attorney General Robert Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the Federal Gun Control Act was passed.
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The purpose of the act was to prohibit felons from owning guns.
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The Lautenberg Amendment was passed in 1996.
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This amendment extends the Federal Gun Control Act to include those convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
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I'm going to include the next part as a direct quote from the US Department of Justice website because I don't want to lose any meaning with my interpretation Quote the bill passed with almost unanimous support and represents Congress's recognition that anyone who attempts or threatens violence against a loved one has demonstrated that he or she poses an unacceptable risk and should be prohibited from possessing firearms.
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This new provision affects law enforcement in three interrelated ways.
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First, it will assist in preventing those individuals who have demonstrated a propensity for domestic violence from obtaining a firearm.
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Second, it will assist law enforcement by providing a tool for the removal of firearms from certain explosive domestic situations, thus decreasing the possibility of deadly violence.
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Finally, it will serve as a federal prosecution tool in certain situations where alternatives have failed.
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I'm still quoting here has as an element the use or attempted use of physical force or the threatened use of a deadly weapon committed by a current or former spouse, parent or guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a victim who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse, parent or guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim.
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So let's dissect this a little bit.
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Anyone who attempts or threatens violence against a loved one.
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Check has as an element the use or attempted use of physical force.
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Check or the threatened use of a deadly weapon.
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Check Committed by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common.
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Check Committed by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with a victim as a spouse, parent or guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim.
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Check.
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I want to remind you, just in case you don't recall, that this is also the guy with a very publicized aggressive drunk driving arrest in which he was spewing anti-Semitic slurs.
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Following the results of the trial, gibson did surrender his gun or guns I'm not sure how many he owned.
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So now let's fast forward to March of 2025.
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Of 2025.
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Former US pardon attorney Elizabeth G Oyer received a list of individuals slated to have their gun rights restored.
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Among the names, she was directed to include actor Mel Gibson.
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Oyer expressed strong concern over reinstating gun rights to individuals with domestic violence histories and she remained firm in her opposition.
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She also emphasized that, while she was given ample time to properly vet the other candidates.
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Gibson's name was given to her without that same consideration.
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The next day, security arrived at her office to escort her out as she had been terminated.
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While it's not confirmed that her dismissal was directly tied to this incident, I think the timing is a bit suspicious.
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Now, if you're pulling for Gibson, don't worry.
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Us Attorney General Pam Bondi just approved restoration of his gun ownership rights.
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So what does giving Mel Gibson his guns back say to the world?
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Why does it matter?
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He's one guy, right.
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Well, it sends a disturbing message.
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If you have enough clout or money, the rules don't apply to you, even in cases backed by photograph and audio evidence of physical abuse.
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Even when lives are repeatedly threatened, the voices and safety of survivors can and will be ignored.
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It means the attorney general can be handed hard proof that a man who not only threatened violence but carried out violence will still be prioritized.
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The system appears willing to overlook violence when influence enters the equation, leaving those most in need of protection out in the cold.
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Now I know I have already given you enough to be outraged, but there are a few more points in this situation that I wanted to highlight During the custody battle and throughout the hearing regarding domestic violence charges, I didn't find anything, not a single thing, describing how people were concerned with Oksana's well-being.
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Nothing about their daughter either.
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They could have been out there, but I didn't find them.
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But there was plenty of documentation, of comments and speculations and questions about whether Mel Gibson's career could recover from this terrible publicity.
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Oksana was frequently labeled the Russian-born beauty.
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Now she is beautiful and she is Russian-born, but that's a phrase that reduced her identity to mere objectification.
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I even found a law firm who used this case as an example of what lengths individuals will go to in child custody cases, stating, quote even the most amicable divorce can turn into a contentious battle when issues involving the children cannot be agreed upon.
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So all of this is not just about one man or one victim.
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This isn't just about one person's abuse of power.
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This isn't about men versus women, left versus right, guns versus no guns.
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This is about all of us as a collective.
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This is a call to action.
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We cannot sit quietly in a world where gun ownership is deemed more.
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Thank you for listening.
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I truly would love to hear your feedback on this episode.
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Sources for today and there are a lot of them can be found in the show notes.
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I will be back next week with another episode for you.
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Until then, stay strong and wherever you are in your journey, always remember you are not alone.
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1 in 3 is a .5 Pinoy production Music written and performed by Tim Crow.
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© transcript Emily Beynon.