Yesterday, just a little over one year since the fateful night part-time Costa Rican resident Mel Gibson strolled out of a Malibu cocktail lounge and into infamy as the Hebrew-hatingest, sugartit-leeriest Oscar winner in all of Hollywood, a judge declared the actor free from having to attend mandatory Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. From the NY Daily News:

A Malibu judge yesterday said the Oscar winner, who was busted for drunken driving in July 2006, has completed his court-ordered alcohol-cessation program.

"The AA meetings are no longer under his probation's conditions," a spokeswoman with the district attorney's office said.

Obviously, Gibson would only benefit from continuing to attend the meetings: As any successful 12-stepper can tell you, while it might get easier to resist your demons over time, the threat of a relapse is always there, and all it would take is a citrusy whiff from a freshly cracked Tequiza to send the actor tailspinning right back to Jew-loathing square one.

• Mel can quit AA anytime he wants [NY Daily News]

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