MSNBC has cancelled ‘Up Late with Alec Baldwin’ but the eponymous former talk show host on the news channel is not going quietly into the night. He has plenty to say.
The new program was a casualty in the aftermath of the 55-year-old actor and former star of ’30 Rock’ whose alleged use of a homophobic slur against a TMZ paparazzo led first to the network suspending his program for two weeks and then cancelling it altogether.
Alec Baldwin was caught on video uttering some profane language, calling the TMZ photographer a “”c–sucking f–” although he denied using the gay slur “f–” even as he apologized.
In an interview with Gothamist Baldwin said “Showing a video in which I call someone a ‘c–ksucking something’… you can’t really tell what I’m saying, and we live in a world in which the phrase ‘TMZ’s enhanced audio’ exists. ‘TMZ’s enhanced audio.’
The video in question is below whereby discerning listeners can determine whether or not they are experiencing such audio enhancement.
Alec Baldwin also spoke about Martin Bashir’s vile and degrading remarks made live on air about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. The commentator went into graphic detail in citing an especially brutal form of chastisement of slaves in the South involving urination and defecation, a transcript of which can be seen here. The over-the-top remarks were made in the context of criticizing Governor Palin for drawing a parallel between the U.S.’s indebtedness to China and slavery.
He said, “Martin Bashir’s on the air, and he made his comment on the air! I dispute half the comment I made… if I called him ‘c–ksucking maggot’ or a ‘c–ksucking m-therf–ker’… ‘f—t’ is not the word that came out of my mouth. That I know.”
It seems to be completely lost on Alec Baldwin that even the half of the comment he acknowledges he made is offensive and homophobic. After all, he directed that remark at a man, seemingly to identify and disparage his sexual orientation. That said, Baldwin has a point about Martin Bashir. He is not the first to note the double standard as Bashir has made an on-air apology but received no suspension, let alone cancellation of his program. Much has been said and written about the completely justified outrage over how a conservative woman was treated by an MSNBC with seemingly no penalty.
But Baldwin left it at that, and went on to directed his ire also at Rich Ferraro of GLAAD as well as political pundit and blogger Andrew Sullivan. He said, “But you’ve got the fundamentalist wing of gay advocacy — Rich Ferraro and Andrew Sullivan — they’re out there, they’ve got you. Rich Ferraro, this is probably one of his greatest triumphs. They killed my show. And I have to take some responsibility for that myself.”
As the L.A. Times notes, Rich Ferraro, vice president of communications at GLAAD, has responded to Alec Baldwin’s remarks, saying, in part, “…[I]f a teacher, coach, local radio show host, or parent realizes that anti-LGBT slurs are outdated and unacceptable because of this Baldwin issue, I guess we’ll call it a win. Alec Baldwin’s team has not been open to turning this incident into an opportunity for public education and that’s unfortunate.”
Alec Baldwin, in a later interview with Gothamist said he was considering leaving New York City because of the constant presence of the paparazzi, noting that he and his former wife (Kim Basinger) had raised their daughter Ireland in L.A. of which he said, “it means gated living. You pull up to a gate you go behind a wall and you’re done with it.” In contrast, he said of New York City, “You know, [Mayor] Bloomberg doesn’t want people to drink big sodas, but he wants to make sure those paparazzi have the right to have their lenses five feet from my daughter’s head.”
With that, it’s a sure bet we have not heard the last from Alec Baldwin!
Pictures: PR Photos
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/9ydE5YpUHyg/
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