Alec Baldwin Blasted by American Airlines: "Extremely Rude," Crew "Became Alarmed"

Get the latest on 30 Rock star's airplane controversy, plus why did he quit Twitter?

By Marc Malkin Dec 07, 2011 5:22 PMTags
Alec BaldwinYouTube.com/WeareChange

Alec Baldwin, we have a problem.

American Airlines has finally issued a statement this morning about yesterday's debacle with the 30 Rock star...

The airline claims that Baldwin refused to turn off off his cell phone "when asked to do so at the appropriate time."

Baldwin claims he was simply playing Zynga's Words With Friends.

"The passenger ultimately stood up (with the seat belt light still on for departure) and took his phone into the plane's lavatory," an airline statement reads, in part, on its Facebook page. "He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked. They immediately contacted the cabin crew to check on the situation. The passenger was extremely rude to the crew, calling them inappropriate names and using offensive language."

While Baldwin had plenty to say on Twitter yesterday, not so much today.

He has deactivated his account on the social networking site.

His rep, Matthew Hiltzik, tells me, "Alec's focused on 30 Rock."

Hiltzik then referred me to his Twitter post that reads, "hey @AMERICAN_AA: How come ok 4 other 1st class passengers 2 tweet while @alecbaldwin asked to leave while using his device? #hypocrisy."

Unsurprisingly, Baldwin haters had a field day yesterday tweeting him as soon as soon as the news hit Twitter.

Baldwin was eventually booked on a later flight, but tweeted that he'd never fly American again because it's "where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950's find jobs as flight attendants."

Words With Friends showed its support for the actor by releasing a screengrab of the game with the message "Let Alec Play" and scorecard showing "A Baldwin" with one win, and "American Air" with zilch.