Mel Gibson Is Not Producing an Operation Underground Railroad Child Sex Trafficking Documentary

Contrary to widespread reports of the Oscar winner’s involvement, org founder Tim Ballard and Gibson’s publicist have both issued statements debunking them

Mel Gibson arrives at the U.K. Premiere of "Daddy's Home 2"
Mel Gibson arrives at the U.K. premiere of "Daddy's Home 2" (Credit: John Phillips/Getty Images)

Mel Gibson is not producing a four-part documentary centered on child sex trafficking, TheWrap has confirmed. 

False reports of the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker’s involvement in the project’s development with Operation Underground Railroad began circulating this week, leading Gibson’s publicist and the nonprofit organization’s founder Tim Ballard to release statements debunking the claims.

“Mel deserves all the credit for taking the initiative to further the critical work that we do,” Ballard said in a statement Thursday. “I am personally grateful for his support as we worked on this documentary, however reports this four-part series is actually being produced by Mr. Gibson are not accurate. It’s being produced by Nick Nanton of DNA Films and includes several executive producers such as Kyle Cease, Tony and Sage Robbins and other wonderful and talented people.”

The reports came after the founder of the Utah-based organization — himself a former Department of Homeland Security agent — previously suggested the actor was financially supporting a documentary the entity was working on. The proposed four-part documentary series is slated to cover the underbelly of child sex trafficking in Ukraine.

“I told Mel, ‘You gotta help me. This is gonna be expensive. I won’t ask you for direct donation, but can you help me film this? Let’s film what’s happening so we can get people to understand and they can support us,’” Ballard said during a January press conference in Utah. Ballard said he and Gibson share a previous relationship that came about when Gibson did the final edit on his movie “Soul of Freedom.”

Ballard also said Ukraine gave him the names of more than 10,000 children who have been displaced in the midst of the country’s war with Russia, and mentioned that the four-part doc was “almost done.”

“I know that human trafficking is a $32 billion-a-year business. It’s the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world,” Ballard said at the time.

The video began making rounds on social media recently, and speculation grew that Gibson — who has been criticized in the industry after being accused of making racist, antisemitic and sexist remarks — was involved as a producer. He became a trending topic.

“BREAKING: Mel Gibson is allegedly making a 4-part docu-series on the $34 billion global child sex trafficking market involving countries like Ukraine,” reads one tweet reporting the the false news.

In his statement provided to TheWrap, Ballard provided more clarity on the video’s contents.

“I stand by every word I said in the video circulating around social media. Mel is a personal hero of mine and called me back in 2022 with valuable intelligence regarding children who were rumored to be vulnerable to human traffickers in Ukraine,” he said. “Using that intelligence, we went to Ukraine, where Operation Underground Railroad, Aerial Recovery Group, and The Nazarene Fund were successful in beginning the process of dismantling a dangerous international pedophile ring.”

TheWrap has reached out to Gibson’s publicist, who declined to comment. Responding to AP on Wednesday, the actor’s longtime publicist Alan Nierob wrote by email: “He is not making any documentary.”

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