Alec Baldwin covers the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter to promote, like, a million different projects. Most of this is to promote his new ABC talk show, The Alec Baldwin Show, which begins airing at 10 p.m. on Sundays, starting this Sunday. I’ll admit it – I was not in the mood to read this entire article. While I’m a general fan of Baldwin’s work as an actor – I’ll always have a soft spot for him because of 30 Rock – I’ll be the first to admit that the man is mostly a douchebag in real life. He should only be taken in small doses. I read the first half of this THR piece and I felt like, “yeah, that’s enough.” Here are some of Alec’s takes on the #MeToo movement and how black people love him:
On the #MeToo movement: “I want to preface this by saying that all these guys who have done terrible things, who doesn’t want them punished? This whole idea that I’m covering for [accused director] Jimmy Toback or whatever? The minute that people are found guilty of some crime or there’s a glistening reservoir of information or evidence …It’s not a witch hunt because a witch hunt indicates that there is very little truth, if none at all, and there is a lot of truth here. But what worries me is that this is a fire that needs constant kindling.”
A personal #MeToo story: An actress he worked with in the 1980s was contacted by a journalist about Baldwin’s behavior, and the actress called him to let him know. “She goes, ‘Alec, they called me and they said that a wardrobe person said you sexually molested me and that you constantly had me sitting on your lap and they asked me for a comment.’ I go, ‘My God, what did you say?’ And she said, ‘I told them it was ridiculous, that you never groped me.’ I just remember thinking in that moment, ‘Wow, they’re looking for people. This is a fire that needs fresh wood, and they’re coming for me.'”
How black people stop to talk to him in New York: “I don’t know how to say this and I don’t want to get it wrong either, because everything is a minefield of bombs going off, but” — and here it comes — “ever since I played Trump, black people love me. They love me. Everywhere I go, black people go crazy. I think it’s because they’re most afraid of Trump. I’m not going to paint every African-American person with the same brush, but a significant number of them are sitting there going, ‘This is going to be bad for black folks.'”
His #MeToo comment bugged me more than it should. You know who I sympathize with in that story? The journalist who was merely tracking down a story and following a lead. The journalist heard something from someone about Alec Baldwin mistreating a coworker, and the journalist was trying to track it down to see if there was any truth to it. That’s what journalists do. But Alec Baldwin uses that story as some kind of cautionary tale about how the #MeToo movement has gone too far and they’re looking to “take down” anyone and everyone. No, Alec. We’re looking to take down predators and abusers.
As for his comments about being popular in the black community… a lot of those same “black folks” logged onto Twitter to talk about how Alec needs to just stahp. I understand what he was trying to say, but the whole “black people love me” bragging is just really unhelpful, to say the least.
We had one of our big Black bar-b-ques in Wakanda last night, and we couldn't stop talking about how much we Blacks just loves us some Alec Baldwin
— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) October 10, 2018
Cover courtesy of THR, additional photo courtesy of Getty.
I now find him a trite, chauvinistic, deflecting trog…and SO…BORING….and I once used to cape for him, like he paid my car note/car insurance and set me up a trust fund that I could access at 40…
When he does Tramp…I don’t see him acting at all…
Right? I’ll see you at the next barbeque and we can talk about who will replace him.
Stupid Alex forgot the first rule of black folks “loving you.”
Yeah, Alec, you are so invited to Thanksgiving this year 🙄🙄
my thoughts exactly. Even that comment “black people love me” I heard that in his Trump voice. he and trump are two sides of the same coin in my eyes, one is lampooning the other for behavior and characteristics he himself id guilty of the. the content of their speech doesn’t even differ that much. just gross.
He’s problematic AF. Always liked his work,but can’t stand him as a person.
I agree. He’s a huge problem nd I cannot believe that SNL has kept him on with his bad Trump impersonation. Just hire Darryl Hammonds and be done with it!
Alec Baldwin is one actor that doesn’t sit right with me. Yeah, he’s a good actor, his comedic work is great, but he seems like total douche on a personal level. The worse thing of course is the voicemail he left his young daughter, he gets violent with people very easily. Just because he’s playing trump and very critical of him, I still think he’s a douchebag
“Black people are afraid of trump the most”? Err…no. Not even close.
Just because the media keeps putting black people as the anti trump ‘the face of the opposition’, doesn’t mean it’s actually true. The media has its own agenda…clearly.
If you have to preface a comment by saying it’s like stepping into a minefield you probably should stop right there.
honestly, tariq nasheed might be more disgusting than baldwin, which is pretty hard to do…
Really? I was just about to say his tweet is hilarious, but I don’t know anything about him.
just google his name and “me too”….he’s a defender of Bill Cosby and worse.
Alec I’m black and I can’t stand you. Since the day you went crazy on your daughter.
Like James Woods, he thinks he’s smarter than he really is.
I’d love to see an Alec Baldwin vs James Woods showdown.
Christ. Does he not have a publicist???
“I want to preface this” is the new “I’m not racist, but…” apparently.
PS. If you have to start a sentence with “I don’t know how to say this and I don’t want to get it wrong” and the words mine field are involved, just stop. Because that is your brain screaming in alarm and desperately trying to stop you from making a complete, racist ass out of yourself.
@grabbyhands– 🙂 Beautiful! So well put!
Ew. Didn’t read just came here to say that headline alone grossed me out.
They are the same. Only this one isn’t in the office. And btw how can someone just say black people love me? What kind of statement is that? He spoke to every black person in the USA? Self absorbed ego maniac
That’s how a lot of people are when it comes to black people.
They see one or two and it’s “all black people”.
We are not seen as individual human beings.
SO TRUE!
Agreed. Let me translate the headline for you: “Three Black Men Said ‘Sup to Alec Baldwin On the Subway, Thinks He’s Universally Loved in ‘The Hood.'”
His privilege has helped him skid along thus far. The only men who express concerns about Me Too are those with something to hide and his minions. He’s an angry bastard and at minimum verbally abusive. He knows the bell could easily toll for him.
The only thing we should be comfortable saying about all black people, as a white person here, is things like “all black people deserve better than a racist society”! Like stop. Stop.
That’s exactly the kind the thing Trump would say…maybe he should be worried about that.
“The black people, they love me. Just record numbers of them come up, and they tell me. So many. ‘Uge’
Eyeroll.
It is, and his slip is really showing that he doesn’t perceive the similarities!
100%
Pretty sure that Trump said that, verbatim.
So interesting how at no time has Alec sounded more like Trump than his comment about being loved by blacks. It was a total Trumpism: ego, exaggeration and disconnect.
Bingo. You hit the nail on the head. And it’s something I have pointed out many times. The reason why Alec is so good at playing Trump is because they’re a lot alike.
He is one of those men that scare me. He has such a mean look and, I am sure, goes off on anyone who does something to displease him when he is in a bad mood. That’s why he hasn’t learned anything. The call from the actress is very telling: he is one of those who never smiles and when he smiles at you, you feel rewarded – he seems to sustain that kind of controlling relationship with people. So she called him, to be rewarded by some gentleness over the phone. I have met many men like this (in professional settings) and unfortunately my default setting has been to please them – however with age, things get better and we spot them, and avoid then like the plague.
I hope I am wrong but that’s the vibe I get from him.
You’ve totally nailed it. I have an ex boss and an ex boyfriend like this and I could never quite explain why I would try so hard for so little pay off.
I think there’s a good reason why he was so good at playing Trump and Jack Donaghy. He’s really not acting at all.
Exactly. I’ve never seen him in anything where he wasn’t just being himself. Even in the film Still Alice that I adore. (I’ve never watched 30 Rock though). He really petrifies me.
Except…we really don’t. I dont know a single black person who “loves” Alec Baldwin. He probably had one random black person come up to him and in his white liberal mind that black person represented ALL black people.
Oh snap!
“Black people love me.” Sounds like that fool he mocks when he says “The blacks.”
Alex is a douche.
Alec Baldwin is still cancelled because of his comments about Dylan Farrow, but his story about the actress who had a false molestation rumor spread about her does raise an issue that doesn’t often get addressed. She’s the one in that story I feel bad for. There is a huge, problematic trend of people casually circulating unverified rumors and speculations that different people in the industry- mostly women and girls- were molested or raped as part of their careers. People have all kind of seedy, self-centered, thoughtless, or bigoted motivations for doing this, but there really is no good excuse for that kind of behavior, whether the person doing it is a wardrobe person, someone with connections, a blogger on their own website, or an average joe/ jane on a celebrity gossip site. It’s funny how some keep complaining about the danger of men being falsely accused, when all these kinds of damaging, misogynistic false rumors about women seem to be more commonplace.
He shouldn’t have framed it as a ‘#MeToo has gone too far’ issue though. For one thing, the making up/blind spreading of these kinds of stories about women started way before 2017, and way before Tarana Burke started the #MeToo movement. Some opportunists have just decided to use the movement as their excuse for the ways they’ve been slandering and violating women. Also, there is a huge difference between victims being supported in telling their stories, and other parties making up stories that somebody was victimized or speculating that a woman was victimized based on their own prejudices.
I think all white people should be banned from making any statement that starts with “all black people feel” or “all black people think” etc. There should be a total ban to be punished with fines that increase with each offense. Either that or some method of delivering ever increasing electric shocks.😁 Surely there will be a level of pain that finally convinces people to quit making stupid pronouncements.
Amen and a big high five. I am sick and tired of white people pronouncing what we think, feel, believe, etc. Or even worse, how we SHOULD think, feel, believe, etc. I know they mean well but it’s so goddamn patronizing. Until you’ve walked 100 miles in our skin, shut up.
He’s a really good actor and unlike his brother he isn’t a trumper so there’s that, but please stop!
Wow. 40,893,369 black Americans love Alec. That’s a whole lotta love. Or he could, you know, not Other an entire culture and variety of ethnicities, religions, history and experiences into one amorphous mass. However, that would require intelligence and humility.
That should have been phrased differently. He could have said something like “I’ve noticed that people of color come up to me more to thank me for my Trump impersonation. A lot seem to be a fan of it” or something along those lines. If he’s noticed there’s been an uptick in the number of black people coming up to him to talk to him about it, I don’t disbelieve him. But it’s his Trump impersonation they love, not you Alec! I’m a fan of it too without being a fan of the man himself.
I think in the same interview he name dropped Stephen Colbert as someone he does not enjoy doing interviews with. Apparently Stephen who is infamous for making his guests uncomfortable said something like “You are so talented and handsome but you also always seem angry. Why is that?” and he was not happy that Colbert was trying to “psychoanalyze” him. And I was like, dude! You are not self-aware?? You have a reputation for being an angry, belligerent person!
He’s a narcissistic douchebag. He’s always been one.
I think it never occurred to him before playing trump and getting positive feedback from some blacks, that Trump constantly demonized Black and Brown people do consequently he is mostly reviled among black people.
I can’t stand him. He is a jackass that plays a jackass on SNL…not much of a stretch. Oh and please Alec, stop speaking for Black people…not all love you buddy !
Only like him on 30 Rock and as Trump. Not as himself!
Ummmmm…no Alec, we like Billy more than you and that’s been for awhile now. Your brother gets it, you do not.
Alec Baldwin….. Have several seats. Black people are not afraid of Donald Trump or his administration. Did you see what we did to Kanye West????? and we don’t love you like that either with your white savior mentality. So go home and tend to your four children ( his young wife and his young children= 4 children)
What is with these douchebags getting talk shows now? Norm MacDonald now him.
We don’t need to look for fresh wood, Alec. It’s everywhere, all ready to go.
Nah son! Now you sound like him! Black folk don’t watch SNL like that soo full stop! Smh
Really now. Was there some kind of special poll or survey that I missed out on??? Because I certainly don’t love him and neither do the other black women in my life.
Sifting carefully for disrespect and more rarely, great regard made by those in positions of power for good heartedness and freedom from even so much as a twitch of disrespect or neglect for connection with any community, Mr Trump always comes up good.
Mr Trump has made care to be connecting with and for all people of USA and consequently the world.
Mr Trump is the leader of the free world. The people of the free world are delighted.
We love you Mr Trump and your good wife.