Last week, RadarOnline reported the existence of audiotapes that feature Mel Gibson making offensive and racist rants towards his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. One week later, the first tape has been published and is somehow worse than may have been originally reported.

Welcome to the latest installment of our summer series in which we head back into the Mediaite Vault (*cough* the Internet *cough*) to find some choice moments showing our favorite media personalities back when their journalism hit a little less hard. Consider it meeting the press before they were the press. This time we check out Fox News’ Shepard Smith as he brings the people of Orlando the tough news that Mel Gibson doesn’t like their potato chips.

Well, Mel Gibson is at it again.

According to RadarOnline.com, offensive and explicit audiotapes exist of Gibson ranting at his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, securing his place, once again, in celebrity infamy.

Mercurial actor Mel Gibson has been promoting his new film Edge of Darkness with numerous interviews about the film and his career, and it appears that he’s none too eager to discuss his past bouts with booze. During an interview on WGN-TV, interviewer Dean Richards referenced the alcohol while asking Gibson how the public has treated him differently in the last few years. This did not appear to please the leading man.Video after the jump.

Behold Mel Gibson living down to his reputation. KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin during a press junket for his Gibson’s new movie, tryies to edge his way around asking Gibson whether he is worried how he will be received by the public in his first foray back into movies since going on a reported anti-Semitic tirade to cops after being pulled over for drunk driving back in 2006. Here’s the exchange:

Did Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais make Mel Gibson look like a jerk by reminding us all of his past problems with alcohol? Or did he do him a favor by making light of his troubled history? Either way, it didn’t appear that Gibson saw it coming, so the prevailing mood was one of uneasiness. For those unfamiliar with Gibson’s past, he has admitted problems with alcoholism. Which made Gervais introduction all the more awkward/hilarious when he said (after just sipping a beer) “I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is Mel Gibson.” Video after the jump.

Yesterday it was the New York Times vs. Wall Street Journal, and today it gets muddier. The Daily News enlisted Joanna Molloy to write a 575-word column slamming the Post for running Ashley Dupre’s new Sunday column. There’s nothing like a tabloid slamming another tabloid over a prostitute!

It’s Friday, which means it’s time to separate the chumps from the champs in Mediaite’s new “Winners and Losers” — our scorecard of who rocked and who flopped in the week’s headlines. This week’s contenders include: Michael Vick, giving reality-redemption a shot, Don Imus, back on TV and already taking cheap shots, and Tom Delay, who samba-ed away his own chances at Dancing With The Stars glory. But wait, there’s more!