black listed from working in said town

Reminding people what people did exactly that sort of thing risks invoking Godwins law (except it's relevent). People have been getting 'blacklisted' since pamphlets beat sliced bread.

a crazy drunken rant

and

another drunken rant

What sober and rational person, let alone 'demographic', listens and takes what any drunk says seriously? For a town that's supposedly sensitive to 'image', that is a particularly stupid one to project.

People are allowed to say all sorts of ridiculous, silly, offensive and oft-times partially true things with anonymous impunity. Mel got unlucky being a celebrity recorded acting like an idiot. Maybe people love to tear down idols. As far as many people are concerned, the worst thing Mel Gibson did was drive inebriated, the reason AFAIK he was pulled over by the police. Egad, how dare he be a fallible human being.

The rest, i.e. substance abuse and domestic problems, not to mention his privately held opinions on religion, history and even his industry, which would likely not have seen the light of day had he been any ordinary citizen, were sensationalized details added to his detriment to benefit others.

As for his industry, it is interesting no major studios would back niehter Apocalypto, nor The Passion of the Christ (which apparently was extremely profitable) after successes like Brave heart, is something that is hard to explain. Why would Hollywood hesitate to appeal to a huge and influential swath of middle America? It's almost like they equate a relatively traditional and conservative Catholic style film with Nazism.

Presumably dealing with a 'sensitive' subject like the crucifixion and Judaism, in todays Hollywood with a rabidly pro Israeli and Jewish lobbies and successive administrations bending over backwards to support then with national security interests in their region, suggest Mel got into hot water, was a small fish in a bigger pond, has been systematically smeared since.