Robert Downey Jr: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'

Robert Downey Jr has paid tribute to Mel Gibson and asked that Hollywood try to "forgive [his] friend".

The Iron Man star was being honoured at the American Cinematheque Awards this weekend when he was joined on stage by surprise guest Gibson.

"When I couldn't get sober, he told me not to give up hope and encourage me to find my faith," Downey told the audience, according to Gossip Cop. "[He] kept a roof over my head and food on the table and, most importantly, he said if I accepted responsibility for my wrongdoing and embraced the part of my soul that was ugly, I'd become a man.

"I would ask that you join me - unless you are completely without sin, in which case you picked the wrong f**king industry - in forgiving my friend his trespasses and offering him the same clean slate you have me, allowing him to continue his great and ongoing contribution to our collective art without shame."

Downey received heavy applause from the crowd when he said that Gibson had suffered enough, and the two actors embraced openly on stage.

Gibson and Downey have starred opposite each other twice before, in both the 1990 film Air America and in 2003's The Singing Detective.

Gibson settled his custody dispute with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva in August this year.

In March, he was ordered to perform 16 hours of community service and one year of counselling as a result of misdemeanour battery charges against Grigorieva.