Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin

: Photo from Wikimedia Commons / Author of Photo: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ

Overview

* “A-list” Hollywood actor
* Major backer of Democratic Party candidates and causes
* Opposes the National Rifle Association
* Supported the Occupy Wall Street movement
* Claims that climate-change skepticism is a form of mental illness
* Detests Donald Trump


Background

An “A-list” Hollywood actor and the oldest brother in the Baldwin acting family, Alec Baldwin was born on April 3, 1958 in Amityville, New York. While studying political science at George Washington University, he auditioned, on a lark, for the acting program at New York University, where he was “blown away” by an offer for a full tuition scholarship, which he accepted. In 1980, when Baldwin was just four credits shy of graduating, he left school in order to take a role in the daytime soap opera The Doctors. Thirteen years later, he returned to NYU to complete the requirements for his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Since the 1980s, Baldwin has appeared in numerous stage productions and television programs, as well as nearly 70 films. From 2006-13, he starred as Jack Donaghy on the popular NBC sitcom 30 Rock. For comprehensive details about Baldwin’s acting career, here and here.

Leftwing Activist Who Hates “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy”

Apart from his work as an actor, Baldwin is also one of the entertainment industry’s most outspoken, combative champions of left-wing causes. In a May 2008 interview with CBS 60 Minutes anchor Morley Safer, he claimed that “the vast right-wing conspiracy that’s after me” was composed of people who “hate liberals who can throw a punch.”

Opposing the Death Penalty

Baldwin has long opposed capital punishment, citing its “misapplication … in terms of race, in terms of the potency of court-appointed counsel, and in terms of the admission of DNA evidence in cases where tragically slipshod work by police and prosecutors is undone by modern technology.”

In 1995 Baldwin signed a New York Times ad advocating a new trial for the convicted cop-killer, former Black Panther, and leftist icon Mumia Abu-Jamal.[1]

Similarly, in September 2011 Baldwin objected to the death-penalty execution of Troy Davis, a black Georgian who had been convicted twenty years earlier for killing a police officer. Describing Davis as potentially “an innocent man,” the actor denounced conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, who supported the execution, as “a world class, crypto fascist hater.”

Supporter of Bill Clinton

In the 1990s, Baldwin was a staunch backer of President Bill Clinton, for whom he once held an extravagant fundraiser at his (Baldwin’s) home in Long Island, New York.

In a December 1998 appearance on CNBC television, Baldwin derided Republicans who supported the impeachment efforts against Clinton as “a group of people who want to undo the ’96 election.”

“We Would Stone Henry Hyde to Death!”

In an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s late-night NBC talk show that same month, Baldwin angrily denounced Republican congressman Henry Hyde, who was managing the impeachment hearings against President Clinton in the House of Representatives: “If we were in other countries, we would all right now, all of us together … would go down to Washington and we would stone Henry Hyde to death! We would stone him to death!… We would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and we’d kill their [Republicans’] wives and their children. We would kill their families!”

Gun Control & The 2nd Amendment

In June 1999, Baldwin signed on to an “Open Letter to the National Rifle Association” by Handgun Control, Inc., which demanded the implementation of a number of gun-control measures such as the abolition of “semi-automatic assault weapons” and “ammunition clips holding more than 10 rounds.”[2]

In 2016, Baldwin and fellow movie actor Michael Douglas joined forces with Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine to support Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA, a film highly critical of the National Rifle Association. The movie was also backed by Gavin Newsom, who at the time was California’s lieutenant governor.

On March 5, 2018, Baldwin reacted angrily to a recently released National Rifle Association ad in which NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch had said: “We’ve had enough of the lies, the sanctimony, the arrogance, the hatred, the pettiness, the fake news. We are done with your agenda to undermine voters’ will and individual liberty in America. So to every lying member of the media, to every Hollywood phony, to the role model athletes who use their free speech to alter and undermine what our flag represents, to the politicians who would rather watch America burn than lose one ounce of their personal power … your time is running out.” In response to the NRA ad, Baldwin tweeted: “I see that @DLoesch wants to ‘take back the truth.’ And she doesn’t care how many dead bodies she has to step over in that pursuit. The Second Amendment is not a moral credit card that buys you all the guns you want. That law needs to be rethought.”

Contempt for George W. Bush & His Administration

Baldwin felt deep contempt for Republican President George W. Bush (2001-09), whom he described metaphorically as “the little guy that snuck into the theater [and] popped the window open so that all these other hooligans could come in and just rape and rip off and plunder the government.” Contending that Bush’s victory in the disputed 2000 presidential election was illegitimate, Baldwin in 2002 said: “I believe that what happened in 2000 did as much damage to the pillars of democracy as terrorists did to the pillars of commerce in New York City.” “Bush wasn’t elected,” Baldwin added. “He was selected—selected by five [Supreme Court] judges up in Washington who voted along party lines.”

Also during the Bush administration, Baldwin asserted that the Republican Party had been “hijacked” by “fundamentalist wackos,” and he described Vice President Dick Cheney as “a terrorist” who “terrorizes our enemies abroad and innocent citizens here at home indiscriminately.”

Opposition to Tax Cuts

In a March 2006 Huffington Post piece, Baldwin recalled, with respect, how a “veteran Democratic member of Congress” had once told him: “It’s the tax cuts that will kill us. These people [Republicans] want to make these cuts permanent. And that will mean the death of all entitlements in the budget. That will mean the death of a great deal of our social programming.”[3]

“Get Rid of the CIA”

In a December 2006 blog post, Baldwin suggested that a good way “to defeat terrorism while building new and better alliances in the Arab world” would be to “get rid of the CIA, which has outlived its usefulness and is an embarrassment to this great country.”

Praising Both Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton

During the 2008 presidential primaries, Baldwin’s blog posts were replete with praise for each of the two leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Ultimately he sided with Obama, stating: “This country is in deep trouble. We not only need something effective, we need something new. I believe Obama will bring that more that Mrs. Clinton.” The actor also mused: “One possible consequence of an Obama presidency? Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton. Dang, that sounds good.”

Claiming That America Is More Sexist Than Racist

In 2008 as well, Baldwin suggested that sexism might be even more deeply ingrained in the American psyche than racism: “Sometimes I honestly believe that a racist white guy would vote for Obama over anyone like his wife or mother.”

Supporting the Occupy Wall Street Movement

In November 2011, Baldwin wrote an article for the Huffington Post titled “What Occupy Wall Street Has Taught Me,” where he said: “Occupy Wall Street people understand that not only are more difficult times possibly around the corner, they know that the current government will likely do as it has historically done, which is to protect the rich and powerful at the expense of the long term interests of the middle class. Some of the most financially successful people in America continually remind us all that capitalism is a contest. There are winners and losers. And the winners want to enjoy their success and they want the losers to keep it down. The noise of the vanquished is spoiling the victors’ fun.”

Slurs Against Those Who Question Climate Alarmism

In March 2012, Baldwin derided Republican U.S. Senator James Inhofe as an “oil whore” who should “retire to a solar-powered gay bar.” The slur was issued in response to Inhofe’s new book, The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future, wherein the author claimed that it was pure “arrogance” for people to think that their actions could affect the earth’s climate.

Appearing at a “climate change” conference at the United Nations in April 2016, Baldwin said the following regarding those who doubted that carbon emissions from human industrial activity were a major cause of potentially catastrophic global warming: “So much of what’s coming on now is something that we have to treat as if it’s a mental illness. I believe that climate change denial is a form of mental illness.”

Anti-Fracking

At a June 2, 2012 screening of the anti-fracking film Gasland, Baldwin claimed that hydraulic fracturing “causes cancer or can potentially cause cancer to an elevated number of people.”

Claiming That Whites Who Opposed Obama Were Racists

In 2012 Baldwin supported President Obama’s re-election bid and suggested that voter racism accounted for the fact that the incumbent was not leading Republican challenger Mitt Romney by a wide margin in most polls. “If Obama was white, he’d be up by 17 points,” Baldwin tweeted a few weeks before the election.

Praising Newsman Brian Williams

In a March 2013 interview, Baldwin lauded ABC newsman Brian Williams for his “unbiased, thoughtful, and direct reporting.” Some two years later, in early 2015, Williams became engulfed in scandal when it was learned that he had lied to viewers dozens of times over the years regarding his alleged presence at, or involvement in, major world events.

Anti-Gay Slurs

In June 2013, the gay British journalist George Stark wrote that Baldwin’s wife, Hilaria, had tweeted recipes during the funeral of the recently deceased actor James Gandolfini. Enraged by Stark’s article, Baldwin, in a series of tweetswrote: “Someone wrote that my wife was tweeting at a funeral. Hey. That’s not true. But I’m gonna tweet at your funeral. George Stark, you lying little bitch. I am gonna f%#@ you up … I want all of my followers and beyond to straighten out this fucking little bitch, George Stark. My wife and I attend a funeral to pay our respects to an old friend, and some toxic Brit writes this fucking trash … If put my foot up your fucking ass, George Stark, but I’m sure you’d dig it too much. I’m gonna find you, George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I’m gonna fuck…you…up.” Baldwin subsequently denied that his remarks were anti-gay: “The idea of … that being something that people thought is homophobic … a queen to me has a different meaning. It’s somebody who’s just above. I know women that act queeny, I know men that are straight that act queeny, and I know gay men that act queeny. It doesn’t have to be a definite sexual connotation, or a homophobic connotation. To me those are people who think the rules don’t apply to them.”

On October 11, 2013, Baldwin began hosting his own nightly program on MSNBC, Up Late With Alec Baldwin. In mid-November, however, he was suspended from the show for two weeks as a result of an anti-gay slur (“cocksucking fag”) which he shouted at a media photographer during an altercation that was captured on video. After initially denying that he had used those words, Baldwin eventually admitted on Twitter that he had uttered an “anti-gay epithet” and said: “I apologize and will retire it from my vocabulary.”

Later in November 2013, MSNBC elected to fire Baldwin outright. In response, the actor said that he had not in fact used the term “fag” during his October altercation with the photographer. “I dispute half the comment I made,” he said. “… [I]f I called him ‘cocksucking maggot’ or a ‘cocksucking motherfucker’ … ‘faggot’ is not the word that came out of my mouth. That I know. But you’ve got the fundamentalist wing of gay advocacy … they’re out there, they’ve got you….”

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Baldwin supports comprehensive immigration reform that would offer a path-to-citizenship for illegal aliens. As he said in November 2013: “While the battle over immigration reform plays out in Washington, out in the rest of the country, out of the spotlight, those undocumented workers are fighting real battles just to feed their families.  Why?  Because without the protection of citizenship, they are vulnerable to exploitation like wage theft – people hiring them to do work and then not paying them, in unsafe and even deadly work conditions.”

Supporting the ACLU

On March 31, 2017, Baldwin co-hosted a live-streamed telethon to benefit the American Civil Liberties Union. Among the other celebrity participants were Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Tracey Morgan, Jon Hamm, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Padma Lakshmi, Jane Krakowski, Ellie Kemper, and Tituss Burgess.

Contempt for Donald Trump & His Supporters

In December 2016, Baldwin posted a series of tweets in which he said the following about President-elect Donald Trump: “We are not far from the day when the most reviled candidate in our history will become President. Unwanted by a significant majority of voters. A man who has projected little other than an empty braggadocio and synthetic rhetoric about both his qualifications and plans[,] but Inauguration Day means the beginning of the countdown to when he will be gone. And he will be gone. January 20. The countdown begins.”

On the eve of Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, Baldwin joined such notables as Michael Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Al Sharpton, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in leading an anti-Trump protest rally in New York City.

In a series of June 3, 2017 tweets, Baldwin defended comedienne Kathy Griffin from the backlash she was receiving after she had posted a photo of herself posing with a bloodied, decapitated head meant to resemble that of President Trump. The tweets read as follows:

  • 1- Dear Kathy Griffin, Kathy….baby…I’ve been there. The whole Henry Hyde thing w Conan, where we bring out an oxygen mask at the end?
  • 2- a joke. That’s what I thought. That’s what we intended. No one walked out of the studio and said, “No! We’re serious!” No one.
  • 3- but all your gutless, weasels in the GOP insisted that I actually threatened Hyde. They played the victim beautifully.
  • 4- Kathy…fuck them. Fuck them all. No 1 believes u meant 2 threaten Trump. Trump is such a senile idiot, all he has is Twitter fights.
  • 5- ignore him. Like the leaders of all the other countries in the world. Ignore him.

In November 2017, Baldwin told an audience at George Washington University, his alma mater: “We can’t be mean enough to this guy” (Trump), who the actor claimed was squandering the “tremendous opportunity” he had been given to serve as U.S. president.

On April 25, 2018, Baldwin tweeted the following about the Trump administration: “It’s pirates, whores and thieves holding every type every of resumé in this administration. But it can’t go on forever.”

On June 27, 2018, Baldwin used his Twitter account to attack Preident Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, as follows: “Sessions is emblematic of the outliers in the Trump administration that are currently running the country. Embodying racism, white exceptionalism, ignorance, oppression of the politically disenfranchised.”

As the keynote speaker at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s annual fall fundraising dinner on October 14, 2018, Baldwin said: “The way we implement change in America is through elections. We change governments here at home in an orderly and formal way. In that orderly and formal way and lawful way, we need to overthrow the government of the United States under Donald Trump.” “There is a small cadre of people currently in power who are hell-bent on continuing a malicious immigration policy that has set this country up for human rights violations charges by the global community,” the actor added. “This cadre has looted money from the federal treasury and deposited it directly into the bank accounts of their most ardent political supporters.” Moreover, Baldwin asserted that Republicans routinely “shrug” off the issue of gun violence, “spit in the face” of other nations that need the U.S. to improve its energy policies, and largely ignore the concerns of nonwhites “who seek a decent seat at the American economic table but instead are issued a prison term, or worse, a bullet.”

On November 20, 2018, Baldwin tweeted: ““The United States has a National Socialist tumor in its body and it is growing day by day. This alone should compel you to do everything in your power to get rid of Trump.” (The term “National Socialist” was a reference to Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazis, of the 1930s.)

On December 7, 2018, Baldwin, heartened by reports that special counsel Robert Mueller had discovered some incriminating information about Trump’s ties to Russia, tweeted: “When Trump resigns, and I believe that formality is imminent, I want to organize a nationwide moment of silence, followed by a coast-to-coast singalong of GOD BLESS AMERICA.”

On December 16, 2018, Baldwin tweeted: “Trump is a curse, brought down on us as punishment 4 our sins. The slaughter of Native Americans, slavery, Japanese internment, Vietnam. Every hateful, misogynistic, racist notion, intertwined w our better nature, Trump embodies those. He is us. Now we can face it + exorcise it.”

In June 2019, Baldwin called President Trump’s White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, a “mouthpiece for fascism.”

In July 2019, Baldwin tweeted: “One of the tragic outcomes of the Trump era is that many of our friends in other countries now believe that a critical mass of Americans are outright racists.”

In an August 19, 2019 tweet, Baldwin suggested that many Trump supporters were selfish, money-obsessed people who backed the president solely because the economy was strong at that time. “For all you Trump supporters who have swallowed the poison pills of racist hatred, election fraud, a revolving door of semi-competent or outright awful appointees, the wholesale sexual degradation of women,” he wrote, “… if the economy tanks, whatcha gonna do? $ is all u care about. So…?”

On October 10, 2019, Baldwin tweeted: “If u voted for Trump, put ur faith in him bc u thought he was a decisive, plain-speaking, self-made business ‘leader’, now u, perhaps, realize none of that is true. He is a disease that is killing this county and must be eradicated. Get rid of him. And good things will follow.”

In January 2020, Baldwin tweeted:

“American democracy has always been a struggle between the misaligned protections of specific freedoms and a raging, at times intoxicating, 12 cylinder economy. It demanded vigilant/consistent regulation, compassion for the disenfranchised and the periodic display of a necessary sacrifice that allowed for the long term health of our society at the expense of short term whims. The desecration of those ideals and the near moral collapse of this country falls squarely in the lap of Trump’s supporters, as opposed as opposed to Trump himself, who is merely what psychology labels the ‘objective negative function.’ Like fire, floods and earthquakes, it destroys, and only destroys, by its very nature. Without prejudice. It is Trump voters, particularly those who would re-elect him who bear the blame. For the undeniable and colossal destruction of everything that matters to us as Americans that cannot be merely monetized.”

On January 23, 2020, Baldwin tweeted: “Trump’s impeachment centers on a hate crime. He hates the Constitution.”

Likening President Trump to Adolf Hitler, Baldwin tweeted in February 2020: “You wonder how Hitler took control of a once great country. For those of you too young to recall the War or its aftermath, simply watch how this GOP-controlled Senate behaves. Their sniveling fealty and lack of courage. And you begin to get it.”

In an April 30, 2020 tweet, Baldwin suggested that President Trump’s mishandling of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for the deaths of countless Americans: “I’ve seen a few ppl in my lifetime who were pre-nuts, but had a lot of $ to conceal/distract. Overtime, they went full blown. That’s Trump. The President of the US has a degenerative mental illness that is costing 1000’s of lives.” Ten days later, Baldwin tweeted: “Why does Trump want so many people to die?”

On August 5, 2020, Baldwin tweeted: “The rest of the world is leaving us behind. Trump has destroyed this country and its reputation as a beacon of courage, ingenuity, humanity.”

On September 6, 2020, Baldwin tweeted: “Register to vote. And let’s get this fascist whore out of our lives.”

On November 16, 2020, Baldwin tweeted the following after Trump had lost the controversial and disputed 2020 presidential election: “Bury Trump in a Nazi graveyard and put a swastika on his grave. The majority of Americans made the right choice. Trump is a maniac.”

In a December 20, 2020 tweet, Baldwin suggested various forms of punishment that could be inflicted upon President Trump if he refused to acknowledge his recent election loss to Joe Biden: “Who arrests Trump if he refuses to concede? Who drags him out? Pepper spray? Cuffs? A knee on his neck, cutting off his oxygen? Does he wheeze ‘I can’t breathe.’ [a reference to George Floyd] Just whale away on him like a piñata? Rodney King style? The thug who has destroyed the country. What does he deserve?”

Portraying Trump’s Presidency as Karmic Punishment for America’s Evil History

On December 16, 2018, Baldwin tweeted: “Trump is a curse, brought down on us as punishment 4 our sins. The slaughter of Native Americans, slavery, Japanese internment, Vietnam. Every hateful, misogynistic, racist notion, intertwined w our better nature, Trump embodies those. He is us. Now we can face it + exorcise it.” (This tweet was also cited in the section titled “Contempt for Donald Trump.”)

Co-Host of Democratic Fundraiser

In March 2018, Baldwin co-hosted a Democratic Party fundraiser along with Rashida Jones, Norman Lear, Alyssa Milano, and Tracee Ellis Ross. The event was intended to raise money for Democrat candidates seeking to challenge Republican incumbents from Florida to Arizona.

Vulgar Attack on Senator Ted Cruz

On January 6, 2021, Baldwin — enraged by Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s decision to object to Arizona’s electoral votes for Joe Biden — tweeted: “Put Ted Cruz in the stocks and throw rotten fruit and buckets of horse piss at him. Then ride him on a rail. Then tar and feather him. And film it. For Netflix.”

Baldwin Accidentally Kills Halyna Hutchins

On October 21, 2021 in New Mexico, Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when he discharged a prop firearm on the set of the film Rust. The movie’s director, Joel Souza, was also struck and injured in the shoulder by a projectile in the same incident. “My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna,” Baldwin wrote on Twitter. “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours.”

On December 3, 2021, ABC aired an interview that Baldwin gave to newsman George Stephanopoulos regarding the fatal shooting incident. Some notable excerpts from Baldwin:

  • “And then I let go of the hammer of the gun and the gun goes off. I let go of the hammer of the gun, the gun goes off.
  • “Well, the trigger wasn’t pulled, I didn’t pull the trigger. […] No, no, no, no, no. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them, never. Never. That was the training that I had. You don’t point a gun at me and pull the trigger. On day one of my instruction in this business, people said to me, ‘Never take a gun and go click, click, click, click, click. Because even though it’s incremental, you damage the firing pin on the gun if you do that, don’t do that.’”
  • “I let go of the hammer. Bang, the gun goes off. Everyone is horrified. They’re shocked. It’s loud. They don’t have their earplugs in. The gun was supposed to be empty. I was told I was handed an empty gun. If there were cosmetic rounds, nothing with a charge at all, a flash round, nothing. She goes down. I thought to myself, ‘Did she faint?’ The notion that there was a live round in that gun did not dawn on me until probably 45 minutes to an hour later.”
  • “I don’t know how that bullet arrived in that gun, I don’t know. But, I’m all for doing anything that will take us to a place where this is less likely to happen again.”

Steve Wolf, a theatrical firearms safety expert, said in an interview with The Wrap, a website that covers the entertainment industry, that on a scale of 1 to 10, the likelihood of Baldwin’s claim (that he had not pulled the trigger) being true was “zero.” “You know, guns don’t go off by themselves, right?” Wolf added. “It’s an inanimate object. It has no batteries. It has no time. It has no web connection. It’s not a smart piece of equipment. It’s a very reliable device that shoots when you press the trigger, and it doesn’t shoot when you don’t press the trigger.”

On January 8, 2022, Baldwin used his Instagram account to post a video in which he said: “The best way — the only way — we can honor the death of Halyna Hutchins is to find out the truth.” Exhorting the “organizations involved in this investigation” to “do everything in their power to find out what really happened,” the actor also condemned criticism he had received (regarding the shooting of Hutchins) from “right-wing rag sheets, and people who are all about hate.” He then concluded the video by saying, “setting aside the ‘January 6th of it all’, there it is.” At that point, he held up a packet of Splenda to the camera — presumably the same packet that he recently claimed had been handed to him, with a note of encouragement written on it, by someone who supported him.

On January 14, 2022 — after many weeks of delay — Baldwin finally handed over his cell phone to authorities investigating the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins.

On February 15, 2022, the family of Halyna Hutchins sued Baldwin and the movie’s producers for their “callous” indifference to safety complaints that had preceded the woman’s death on the movie set. At a news conference announcing the lawsuit, attorneys for the family stated that Baldwin had refused to undergo training for the type of “cross-draw” he was performing when he accidentally fired the shot that killed Ms. Hutchins. Moreover, the suit cited the “callous sarcasm” that had been used in a text message exchange between camera operator Lane Luper and unit production manager Katherine Walters. In that exchange, Luper told Walters: “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe.” Walters responded: “Accidental discharge on the firearm? Awesome. Sounds good.”

On November 11, 2022, the Reuters news agency reported:

“Actor Alec Baldwin filed a lawsuit on Friday against the armorer and three other crew members over the deadly shooting on the set of the Western movie ‘Rust,’ in which a gun that Baldwin was using during rehearsal killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin’s suit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court as a cross complaint stemming from a previous suit in which a different member of the crew named Baldwin and the others as defendants…. Baldwin’s cross complaint names armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, first assistant director Dave Halls, prop supplier Seth Kenney and prop master Sarah Zachry.

“An attorney for Gutierrez-Reed, Jason Bowles, said in an email on Saturday that, ‘Baldwin is responsible for this tragedy.’ Attorneys for Halls and Kenney did not immediately respond to requests for statements in their clients’ defense. Reuters could not locate an attorney for Zachry. All four were also named as defendants along with Baldwin in the original lawsuit filed by a script supervisor who claimed the shooting caused her severe emotional distress.

“Baldwin’s cross complaint alleges negligence and seeks damages to be determined at trial for the ‘immense grief’ he endures. ‘This tragedy happened because live bullets were delivered to the set and loaded into the gun, Gutierrez-Reed failed to check the bullets or the gun carefully, Halls failed to check the gun carefully and yet announced the gun was safe before handing it to Baldwin, and Zachry failed to disclose that Gutierrez-Reed had been acting recklessly off set and was a safety risk to those around her,’ Baldwin’s cross complaint said.”

On January 19, 2023 — after a nearly yearlong investigation — New Mexico prosecutors announced that they would be charging both Baldwin and the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, with involuntary manslaughter, while assistant director David Halls, who had handed Baldwin the loaded gun moments before the actor shot Ms. Hutchins, had accepted a misdemeanor charge in a plea-bargain agreement. “If any one of these three people — Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, or David Halls — had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It’s that simple,” said special prosecutor Andrea Reeb. District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, meanwhile, stated that following “a thorough review of the evidence and the laws … I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew.” The New York Post reported on January 19: “Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will both be charged ‘in the alternative,’ meaning the jury will decide which of the two  charges — involuntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter in the commission of a lawful act — they are or are not guilty of. Both felony charges hold a maximum prison sentence of 18 months and a fine of up to $5,000.”

On February 20, 2023, Breitbart.com reported:

“Hollywood star Alec Baldwin is no longer facing the prospect of spending five years in jail after prosecutors in New Mexico downgraded the charges against him Friday. Court documents show Alec Baldwin and Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will only be charged with involuntary manslaughter without a firearm enhancement charge. The enhancement carried a maximum five-year prison sentence, according to multiple reports.

“Attorneys for both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed had argued the firearm enhancement was based on a New Mexico law that only went into effect after the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021. As a result, the Santa Fe District Attorney downgraded the charges against them. ‘In order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys, the District Attorney and the special prosecutor have removed the firearm enhancement to the involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the Rust film set,’ Heather Brewer, spokesperson for the New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney, said in a statement obtained by multiple outlets. […]

“Baldwin still faces the possibility of spending 18 months in prison if found guilty on the involuntary manslaughter charge.”

On February 27, 2023, three crew members from Rust sued Baldwin, claiming that they had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety as a result of the actor’s accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The plaintiffs were: Ross Adding, a dolly operator; Doran Curtin, a set costumer; and Reese Price, a key grip.

On April 20, 2023, NBC News reported:

“Charges have been dropped against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his Western movie ‘Rust’ after ‘new facts’ surfaced in recent days, officials said Thursday [April 20]. The announcement came 2 ½ months after New Mexico prosecutors filed involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin. In a statement, the special prosecutors appointed by New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies to handle the case said the new facts were revealed as authorities prepared for a May 3 preliminary hearing. The statement, from Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, does not say what those facts are but says they require additional investigation and forensic analysis. ‘Consequently, we cannot proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement in its existing form,’ the prosecutors said. ‘We therefore will be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin to conduct further investigation.’  The prosecutors added that decision does not ‘absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability.’ Charges may be refiled, they said.”

Supporting Stacey Abrams

On December 9, 2021, Baldwin was the master of ceremonies for the annual “Ripple of Hope” gala at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center. Vice President Kamala Harris was the keynote speaker for the event, which honored Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic gubernatorial candidate from Georgia. Abrams greeted Baldwin warmly and posed for pictures with him. Human Rights Center president Kerry Kennedy told those in attendance: “In your good times and bad, and his good times and bad, he [Baldwin] always shows up.”

Baldwin Buys Farmhouse for $1.75 Million

On February 15, 2022 — the same day that the family of Halyna Hutchins sued Baldwin and the producers of Rust for their “callous” indifference to safety complaints that had preceded the woman’s death on the movie set — Baldwin paid $1.75 million to purchase a farmhouse on 50+ acres of land in Vermont.

Condemning Moderate Democrat Joe Manchin

In May 2022, Baldwin denounced U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia as a “traitorous Democrat,” for having broken ranks with most other Senate Democrats on a number of key issues.

Ties to Leftist Organizations

Baldwin has been a board-of-directors member of People for the American Way and the People for the American Way Foundation; a program advisory board member with the Brennan Center for Justice; a supporter of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee; and a supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Baldwin’s Immense Wealth

As of December 2023, Baldwin’s net worth was approximately $70 million.

Baldwin’s Temper

Baldwin’s volatile temper has contributed to altercations with a number of people in both his personal and professional life:

  • In October 1995, Baldwin allegedly assaulted a freelance photographer for videotaping him, his then-wife Kim Basinger, and the couple’s 3-day-old daughter when they were just returning to their Los Angeles home from the hospital where the child was born.
  • In 2006, Tony-nominated actress Jan Maxwell, while co-starring with Baldwin in a stage production titled Entertaining Mr. Sloane, quit the show complaining about Baldwin’s behavior and expressing concerns for her own physical safety. Maxwell said that Baldwin had put his fist through a wall and was “throwing things around with all of us cowering.”
  • In April 2007, a voice-mail message was made public in which Baldwin berated his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, when he could not reach her by phone:

    “Hey, I want to tell you something, okay, and I want to leave a message for you right now. Cause again it’s 10:30 here in New York on a Wednesday and once again, I have made an ass of myself trying to get to a phone to call you at a specific time. When the time comes for me to make the phone call, I stop whatever I’m doing and I go and I make that phone call … and you don’t even have that goddamn phone turned on.

    “I’m tired of playing this game with you. I’m leaving this message for you to tell you that you have insulted me for the last time. You have insulted me. You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being… I don’t give a damn that you’re 12 years old or 11 years old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn’t care about what you do as far as I’m concerned.

    “You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone and when I come out there next week. I’m going to fly out there for the day just to straighten you out on this issue. I’m going to let you know just how disappointed in you that I am and how angry I am with you that you’ve done this to me again.

    “You made me feel like shit and you’ve made me feel like a fool over and over and over again. And this crap you pull on me with this goddamn phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother and you do it to me constantly and over and over again. I am going to get on a plane and I am going to straighten your ass out when I see you.

    “Do you understand me? I am going to really make sure you get it. That I’m going to get on a plane and I’m gonna turn around and come home. So you better be ready Friday the 20th to meet with me. So I’m going to let you know how I feel, about what a rude little pig you really are. You are a rude thoughtless little pig. Okay?”

  • In December 2011, Baldwin was aboard an American Airlines jet at Los Angeles International Airport and was using his cell phone while waiting for takeoff. When a flight attendant instructed him to put away the “electronic device,” the actor became belligerent and was eventually removed from the plane. A fellow passenger later described what he had observed: “Apparently he [Baldwin] said he was playing a game, but he was actually talking on the phone. She [the flight attendant] was very nice. The door was closed they just announced that they were pulling away from the gate. He got up threw his papers on the floor stormed into the bathroom slammed the door closed, beat on the wall and then came back. He said ‘If you want to kick me off, kick me off.’ He was just crazy, he just flipped out, the guy has problems.”According to a crew member: “He [Baldwin] was violent, abusive and aggressive. He got into the bathroom and started beating on the wall and he pounded his fists on the galley counter. Yelling, screaming, very ugly. It was unsafe to keep him on board that’s why he got kicked out.”
  • In June 2013, the gay British journalist George Stark wrote that Baldwin’s wife, Hilaria, had tweeted recipes during the funeral of the recently deceased actor James Gandolfini. Enraged by Stark’s article, Baldwin, in a series of tweetswrote: “Someone wrote that my wife was tweeting at a funeral. Hey. That’s not true. But I’m gonna tweet at your funeral. George Stark, you lying little bitch. I am gonna f%#@ you up … I want all of my followers and beyond to straighten out this fucking little bitch, George Stark. My wife and I attend a funeral to pay our respects to an old friend, and some toxic Brit writes this fucking trash … If put my foot up your fucking ass, George Stark, but I’m sure you’d dig it too much. I’m gonna find you, George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I’m gonna fuck…you…up.” Baldwin subsequently denied that his remarks were anti-gay: “The idea of … that being something that people thought is homophobic … a queen to me has a different meaning. It’s somebody who’s just above. I know women that act queeny, I know men that are straight that act queeny, and I know gay men that act queeny. It doesn’t have to be a definite sexual connotation, or a homophobic connotation. To me those are people who think the rules don’t apply to them.” (This item was also cited in the section titled “Anti-Gay Slurs.”)
  • In February 2013, Baldwin, angered when New York Post reporter Tara Palmeri questioned him regarding a lawsuit filed against his wife, grabbed Palmeri by the arm and said, “I want to choke you to death.” He then turned to Post photographer G.N. Miller, a black retired NYPD detective, and called him a “coon,” “crackhead,” and “drug dealer.”
  • In October 2017, Baldwin, while walking at University Place and 11th Street in New York City, had an angry confrontation with a motorist who he felt was driving recklessly. According to an eyewitness: “Baldwin called the driver of a big black SUV ‘a meatball’ and kept asking him and the passenger to get out.” When the people in the SUV refused to exit the vehicle, “Alec got out his phone and started videotaping them. They pulled away right after, and he took a pic of their license plate and threw his extra-large drink in the street. Then he just went on his angry way.”
  • On November 2, 2018, Baldwin was arrested for allegedly assaulting a 49-year-old man during a dispute over a parking spot on East 10th Street in Greenwich Village, New York, in front of Baldwin’s luxury apartment building. The NYPD said the actor would be charged with third-degree assault and harassment. Sources familiar with the incident said that Baldwin had made “physical contact” with the left side of the other man’s face, and that the man was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital. In a tweet that he posted later that day, Baldwin claimed that he had not punched the other driver. When the case eventually went to court in January 2019, Baldwin pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and agreed to take anger management classes.

Footnotes:


  1. Other high-profile signatories included Noam Chomsky, Roger Ebert, Mike Farrell, Danny Glover, bell hooks, Spike Lee, Norman Mailer, Michael Moore, Charles Rangel, Susan Sarandon, Gloria Steinem, and Cornel West.
  2. Other notable signatories included Cher, Walter Cronkite, Phil Donahue, Spike Lee, Rosie O’Donnell, Bonnie Raitt, Tim Robbins, Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Bruce Springsteen, and Barbra Streisand.
  3. Jason Mattera, Hollywood Hypocrites (Kindle Edition, 2012), Location: 2060-63.

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