It was just a matter of time, really. The first of the Mel Gibson rants has made its way online, and it’s everything you’d thought it’d be and then some. He sounds like a goddamn lunatic. And he sounds like he’s been pounding whiskey for the last five days straight. Then there’s this constant labored huffing and puffing, like Fatty McGee is taking the stairs in the background. I guess being that angry really burns up a lot of oxygen. It also seems to burn a lot of bridges, because Mel’s just been dropped by his agents. According to TMZ:

Mel Gibson has been dropped by William Morris Endeavor Entertainment — his agents.

Gibson had been repped by famed agent Ed Limato.

Apparently the main honcho at the agency has had it out for Mel since the actor’s anti-Semitic rant [and had] just been waiting for the moment to strike. The moment has come.

News also broke today that Oksana Grigorieva told the cops Mel pulled a gun on her. So now he’s doing the only thing he can do: claim extortion. TMZ says

Mel’s lawyers will make “a presentation” of evidence to the Sheriff’s Department that is investigating Mel for domestic violence, child endangerment and assault with a deadly weapon — the presentation, we’re told, will focus on evidence of Mel’s innocence.

The lawyers will also present evidence that Oksana allegedly tried to extort Mel by telling him she would sell him the tapes she secretly recorded during their nuclear arguments.

Mel’s lawyers will present evidence that Oksana lied to Sheriff’s deputies by knowingly making numerous false statements.

Mel’s lawyers will formally ask the Sheriff’s Department to open a criminal investigation against Oksana, focusing on alleged extortion and making false statements to law enforcement — both felonies.

Whether she was blackmailing him with the tapes or not, the damage to his image has already been done. That audio clip just shot out any last straws at which Mel Gibson fans might have been grasping. He could post videos of himself clubbing baby seals and defecating on the American flag and still not seem any less likable than he does right now.