Mel Gibson's publicist says reports that actor hit a photographer are 'complete fabrication'

Actor Mel Gibson has been accused of pushing a female photographer - something his publicist has dismissed as a “complete fabrication”.

Australian media reported that News Corp Australia photographer Kristi Miller was pushed and spat at by the 59-year-old actor as he left a cinema in Sydney with his girlfriend Rosalind Ross.

“I thought he was going to punch me in the face,” Miller told Australia’s Daily Telegraph.

“I took a photo of Mel and his girlfriend and when I turned around he shoved my back really hard. It shocked me because I wasn’t expecting it. I don’t know if it was his hands or elbow.”

She continued: “He was spitting in my face as he was yelling at me, calling me a dog, saying I’m not even a human being and I will go to hell.”

But Gibson’s publicist Alan Nierob has denied Miller’s claims of physical violence.

“Basically Mr Gibson and his friend were being harrassed by this photographer and he asked her repeatedly to stop, which she did not,” he told Guardian Australia.

“There was never any physical contact whatsoever and the story being told by her is a complete fabrication of the truth.”

Police confirmed they are investigating reports a female photographer was pushed outside a cinema on Sunday night.

"About 6.20 last night a man became involved in an altercation with a photographer outside a cinema on Oxford Street Paddington and allegedly pushed the female photographer," a police spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.

"Police from the Surry Hills local area command are investigating the incident and urge anyone with information to come forward."

Gibson is in Australia to direct Hacksaw Ridge which will star Andrew Garfield.