Gibson vs. Eszterhas: there may be proof of Gibson's vile rants

You'd think Gibson had learned his lesson, but it may be that he's once again gotten himself recorded while in the throes of not being able to stop his mouth from saying completely horrendous things. At least according to chief-feuder Joe Eszterhas. TMZ has this:

"Joe Eszterhas tells TMZ ... he has hard proof that he witnessed the hate-filled rants he - or someone - just disclosed to the world, because his teenage son secretly recorded much of it. Joe tells us, "A lot of the stuff is on tape." He says the recordings were made in Costa Rica - by his son Nick. Joe would not say if the alleged comment about John Lennon - "I'm glad he's dead. He deserved to be shot," or the comment about Oksana Grigorieva, "I want to bleep ... and stab her while I'm doing it," or the comment about William Morris/Endeavor Chairman Ari Emanuel, "He's a bleep Jewboy," were all on tape. In his letter to Mel, Joe wrote that his son recorded some of Mel's outbursts on his iPhone, but the letter did not disclose how much - now Joe says, "a lot." Joe also says people who allegedly witnessed Mel's rants are willing to come forward. As for "The Maccabees" script that Warner Bros. rejected, Joe said, "I'm heartbroken. I put my heart and soul into a script for someone who hates Jews." Joe said, "He needs help. Badly."

But wait. It can't be true because Mel loves The Beatles: 'Mel Gibson is telling friends ... he NEVER said John Lennon deserved to die - in fact, he's a huge Beatles fan and he plays their music all the time. Sources tell TMZ, screenwriter Joe Eszterhas' allegations the actor celebrated John Lennon's death are just false. As one source put it, "It's not uncommon to hear The Beatles at Gibson's house." The source adds, Gibson was even playing "Imagine" at a recent function - the same song Eszterhas says Mel bashed recently, claiming, "Imagine. I hate that f**king song. I'm glad [Lennon's] dead." Mel is claiming ... he isn't surprised by Eszterhas' false claims in his 9-page diatribe - because the entire letter reads like a "bad script." We're told Mel is also convinced ... another major rift between him and Eszterhas had nothing to do with him - or "The Maccabees" - it had to do with Mel's other viking-themed film project, which Mel's been developing for years. We're told Eszterhas was frustrated with Mel ... because Mel had been putting more time into the viking movie than he did into "Maccabees."