Mel Gibson and Agency Part Ways

Entertainment Tonight, Friday, July 9, 2010, 5:16pm (PDT)

ET confirms that Mel Gibson is no longer represented by William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

RELATED: Website posts recording of Gibson's racist rant

The news comes in the wake of an Internet report containing an audio recording allegedly of Gibson spouting racist and misogynistic comments at a woman, purportedly his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child, Oksana Grigorieva.

But according to the Hollywood Reporter, relations between Gibson and members of the agency, other than the actor's longtime WME rep, Ed Limato, who recently died, were reportedly strained before Gibson's latest influx of bad press. WME partner Ari Emanuel was known to feel hostile toward Gibson after he reportedly made anti-semitic remarks regarding the Holocaust.

RELATED: The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks out against Mel Gibson

"Mel was really important to Ed," a source at the agency told the Hollywood Reporter. "He was with him for 32 years and I think Ed saw him as a son ... [But] the world knows how Ari feels and he has never changed that opinion."

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Earlier this week, we learned that Gibson is the focus of a domestic violence investigation involving Grigorieva.

More from ET: Report: Mel Gibson and Girlfriend Break Up