Mel Gibson spoke out last night for the first time about his epic, profanity-laden, secretly-recorded rant against writer Joe Eszterhas ... and he actually had a bit of a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Gibson explained to Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" ... that Eszterhas turned in a script for "The Maccabees" to Warner Bros. that was rejected and so Gibson felt his actions were "justified."

As for the 9-page letter Eszterhas wrote to Gibson, Mel joked, "If he put half as much time and effort and creativity and imagination into a screenplay, which he was supposed to write, as he did into that letter ... we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Finally, talking about the infamous tape, Mel joked, "Maybe you don't know this about me, but I've got a little bit of a temper."

Yes, Mel ... we know.

Acura has issued a full-on apology ... after we ran a story that the car company's ad people sought an African American actor to play a car dealer who was "not too dark."

The commercial -- which featured Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno and ran during the Super Bowl -- was cast by an agency that sent out a casting sheet, looking for a "nice looking, friendly, not too dark" African American actor to play the role of dealer.

Acura just issued this statement:  "We apologize to anyone offended by the language on the casting sheet used in the selection of actors for one of our commercials."

The car company added, "We sought to cast an African-American in a prominent role in the commercial, and we made our selection based on the fact that he was the most talented actor."

As for the language "not too dark," Acura says, "The casting sheet was only now brought to our attention.  We are taking appropriate measures to ensure that such language is not used again in association with any work performed on behalf of our brand."

You know that Acura commercial with Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno that aired during the Super Bowl -- well, we got hold of the casting call document, and they were very specific/exclusionary about their dream African American car dealer.

According to the casting doc, the role of African American car dealer would be played by a "Nice looking, friendly, Not too dark" African American car dealer.


We just got hold of the document from an African American actor who didn't fit the profile, and who's pissed.

We made lots of calls, trying to find out why "dark" African Americans weren't right for the role.  Someone associated with casting the commercial tells us ... one of the reasons for the "not too dark" restriction was because lighting and special effects would get tricky. 

We made calls to Acura but no one got back to us.


Acura just apologized for the wording in the casting call document -- claiming, "We apologize to anyone offended by the language."

NO ONE mocks the Sikh religion and gets away with it ... not even Jay Leno -- at least that's the sentiment behind a new lawsuit, filed by one angry Sikh follower ... in Bakersfield, CA.

It's all over a recent segment on "The Tonight Show" (above) -- in which Jay pokes fun at the homes of several GOP candidates. We'll spare you, but the punchline is that Mitt Romney -- a famously wealthy businessman -- spends his summers in a solid gold palace.

As an illustration, Jay pulled up a photo of India's Harmandir Sahib -- aka the Golden Temple of Amritsar -- one of the most sacred buildings in the world to the Sikh people.


There's been a lot of outrage among Sikhs over the clip -- but one man in California named Dr. Randeep Dhillon took his religious fervor one step further ... filing a libel lawsuit against the late night host, claiming Leno is responsible for encouraging hatred and ridicule of his religion.

According to Randeep, the Romney joke "falsely portrays the holiest place in the Sikh religion as a vacation resort owned by a non-Sikh" ... THE HORROR.

Randeep is suing for general and punitive damages. A rep for NBC had no comment.

George Lopez' TBS TV show has been cancelled, but there's an even bigger story here -- that Conan O'Brien is failing at the network.

TBS just announced the last show will air tomorrow night.  It's been on the air for 2 seasons.

Now the bigger story.  It looks like Conan did to George what Jay Leno did to Conan.  You'll recall, when Jay Leno came back to NBC, his 10 PM show tanked and killed Conan's ratings. 

Well Lopez had the 11 PM time slot for its first season, but then when Conan came to TBS a year ago he took over the 11 PM slot and Lopez moved to midnight -- meaning George was relying on Conan to deliver a good lead-in.

But when the change was made, George's audience plummeted 40%.

On Monday, Conan pulled in an anemic 0.5 rating in the key demographic (18 - 49) with 715,000 viewers -- and that's a pretty typical day.  George's ratings hovered around 0.2, with 400,000 viewers. 

Short story -- Nobody's watching.

Lindsay Lohan won the hearts and minds of 500 people Tuesday ... albeit not a jury of her peers -- thanks to a heartfelt mea culpa on Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show."


Lindsay got a standing ovation shortly before admitting no one but herself is to blame for the predicament that triggered a 120 day jail sentence.

After about 5 minutes, Jay and Lindsay did a bit of full disclosure ... revealing they have something -- actually someone -- in common.

Lindsay Lohan is backing up what she said on "The Tonight Show" -- that she's a big girl who is finally taking responsibility for her actions -- because she's going to start doing community service this week.



Sources tell TMZ ... Lindsay will begin her 360 hours of community service at the Downtown Women's Center in Los Angeles this week. 

Lindsay told Jay Leno she's not going to make excuses for her actions and will accept the consequences of violating her probation. 

Lindsay's lawyer, Shawn Holley, was there when Lindsay was on the stage.  Interestingly, Holley's hubby, Dorian Holley, was also there -- he's the lead singer of the "The Tonight Show" band.

We're told the producer of "Gotti: Three Generations" was also in the audience to show his support.

One other thing ... Lindsay is also required to perform 120 hours at the L.A. County Morgue -- we're told "she's not so crazy about that."

Jay Leno won the battle for Lindsay Lohan because the actress feels "grateful" for the way he's treated her over the years ... sources connected with the actress tell TMZ.



Lohan pre-taped an episode of "The Tonight Show" yesterday ... set to air tonight ... and according to reports, she received a standing ovation when she walked on to the set.

Sources connected to Lohan tell us she has been receiving several offers to appear on talk shows since she was sentenced to jail last week ... but chose Leno because, "He has been nothing but good to her and her family over the years ... and has always been protective of her."

Of course, Lohan was furious with Letterman earlier this year -- when the comic ripped her on his show following a booking fiasco. Video of Lindsay heading to the studio below.



During the interview, Lohan talked about her sentence -- telling Jay she felt "kind of numb" after the judge threw the book at her.

Lohan also talked about the "Gotti" movie -- reconfirming that she WILL be playing the role of John Gotti Jr.'s wife.

Despite more jail time looming in her future -- Lindsay Lohan kept it positive during her appearance on "The Tonight Show" -- telling Jay, "I'm in the clear now. I feel like as long as I stay focused, then I will be able to achieve what I want to achieve."



Lindsay's pre-taped interview airs tonight -- and as we first reported, Lindsay chose Jay because she liked the way he's treated her through the years.

Jay Leno's joyride in a steam-powered sports car was abruptly derailed when his classic ride crapped out on the side of the road ... ah, the trouble with 105-year old vehicles.



Jay's 1906 Stanley Steamer stalled out in Burbank, CA Friday -- and police tell us officers driving by noticed flames and stopped to help.

Turns out Jay had everything under control ... re-igniting the steam engine with a torch. Once it  fired up, Jay and his passenger went on their merry we-don't-have-to-pay-5-bucks-a-gallon-for-gas way.



Fun fact: The Stanley Steamer once set the land speed record at 127mph. It's since been broken ... many, many, many times.

Rebecca Black brought her talents to "The Tonight Show" last night -- and if you listen close enough ... you can hear her sing "Friday" underneath the BLARING backing track.