MSNBC and Alec Baldwin have “mutually” parted ways in a statement released by the network and one of Baldwin’s representatives. Up Late with Alec Baldwin had been on the air for six weeks but was suspended for two episodes after the controversy over Baldwin calling a paparazzo a “cocksucking faggot.”
Despite the claims, the split doesn’t appear to be mutual at all. In a ranting statement to Gothamist, Baldwin is once again denying he said “faggot” (despite apologizing for having done so) and is taking a swing at GLAAD for their “triumph” at getting him off the air:
“There’s nothing you can do when you get thrown in this washing machine, nothing. You know? Nothing,” Baldwin said. “All you end up doing is just defending yourself all day long . . . 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 ‘cocksucking maggot’ or a ‘cocksucking motherferker’ . . . ‘faggot’ is not the word that came out of my mouth. That I know. But you’ve got the fundamentalist wing of gay advocacy — [GLAAD’s] 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.”
Ferraro sent an email to Towleroad responding to Baldwin’s claims:
“I consider GLAAD’s campaigns to end the Boy Scout of America’s ban on gay scouts, raise national visibility of the violence and inequality facing transgender people, and battling for marriage equality to be among my ‘greatest triumphs’,” Ferraro wrote. “But if a teacher, coach, local radio show host, or parent realizes that anti-LGBT slurs are outdated and unacceptable because of this Baldwin issue, I guess we’ll call it a win.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.”
Baldwin recently wrote a piece for Huffington Post about the paparazzi putting him and his family in danger, which is what led him to say the gay slur to the photographer in the first place. He says that if quitting the entertainment industry is the only way to stop the harassment, he just might:
“Photographers have tripped and fallen on babies in strollers on my block,” Baldwin wrote. “They have nearly struck my wife in the face with microphones. They provoke me, daily, by getting dangerously close to me with their cameras as weapons, hoping I will react. When I do, the weapon doubles as a device to record my reaction. And then, apparently, I lose every time. If quitting the television business, the movie business, the theatre, any component of entertainment, is necessary in order to bring safety and peace to my family, then that is an easy decision.”
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