Joe Eszterhas Describes Mel Gibson's 'Sexual Butchery' Banter, Says He's Got The Tape To Prove It

April 13 2012, Published 7:30 a.m. ET
By Breaking Celebrity News Staff
The war of words continues between Mel Gibson and Joe Eszterhas.
The veteran screenwriter (Flashdance, Basic Instinct, Sliver) appeared on the Today Show on Friday to discuss his rift with the Hollywood lightning rod made public this week when a scathing letter he penned to The Passion director leaked online, raising the same red flags that have essentially ostracized the one-time A-lister from Hollywood.
Eszterhas, 67, and Gibson, 56, had been working together on The Maccabees, the project about Jewish hero Judah Maccabee that Eszterhas called a smokescreen to soften Gibson's anti-Semitic reputation, as the fallen star tries to resurrect his once-thriving career.
MEL AUDIO TAPE #1: Mel’s Racist Rant
The Basic Instinct screenwriter said he and his family went on an excursion to Costa Rica with Gibson, who told Eszterhas's 15-year-old son about a violent sexual fantasy he concocted starring his baby mama Oksana Grigorieva.
"To put that imagery in a 15-year-old boy's head I think is heinous, I think it's vile and I think it's unforgivable," Eszterhas said, adding he's got a recording of the "threatening harangue" and is undecided over what to do with it.
Eszterhas said Gibson's c