Theo Wargo/NBCJust because Alec Baldwin isn't on TV 24/7, it doesn't mean someone isn't always watching.
MSNBC has at least temporarily yanked the actor's talk show, Up Late With Alec Baldwin, from its schedule following the release of a video in which he directed an anti-gay slur at a paparazzo who was snapping pictures of Baldwin's family.
Baldwin immediately took to Twitter to defend against TMZ's claim that he used the word "f-g," insisting he actually said "fathead."
He then apologized today after, according to Baldwin, GLAAD informed him that "c--ksucking" (which he audibly did say) was also an anti-gay epithet. The organization's VP of communications called him out for his "pattern of anti-gay slurs," referring also to tweeted remarks Baldwin made back in June when he got angry at a reporter who wrote up what turned out to be an erroneous story about his wife.
"I would like to address the comments I made this past week," Baldwin began in a statement posted tonight to MSNBC.com. (E! Online is also a member of the NBCUniversal family.)
"I did not intend to hurt or offend anyone with my choice of words, but clearly I have—and for that I am deeply sorry. Words are important. I understand that, and will choose mine with great care going forward. What I said and did this week, as I was trying to protect my family, was offensive and unacceptable. Behavior like this undermines hard-fought rights that I vigorously support. I understand "Up Late" will be taken off the schedule for tonight and next week.
"I want to apologize to my loyal fans and to my colleagues at msnbc—both for my actions and for distracting from their good work. Again, please accept my apology."
From a business standpoint, Baldwin's ratings have been so-so: Per Variety, his Nov. 8 episode reached 395,000 viewers, while it premiered to about 654,000.
While it was yesterday's incident that appears to have irked his bosses as MSNBC, today Baldwin barked at a Fox 5 reporter who approached him on the street, telling her to "get the [f--k] out of here,"after wife Hilaria Baldwin pointed her out to him (amid a lot of cameras that were waiting for them outside) as a reporter who nearly "knocked her teeth out yesterday" with a microphone. (This was all captured on Fox 5 video.)
"You're the one who almost hit my wife with a microphone in the face?" he asked correspondent Linda Schmidt, who said she was not that person. "You want to apologize to her on camera?" he continued. "I asked you a question!"
When Schmidt continued to insist that she did no such thing, he told her to "get the f--k out of here." Baldwin then got into his car but climbed back out and told police he wanted to press charges. "The blonde...she assaulted my wife," Baldwin claimed to a cop.
"Does it look like I assaulted her?" Schmidt inquired during her newscast later. "And Alec Baldwin had no basis for filing charges against me and so far he has not filed any charges. And by the way, after his outburst today, police officers came up to me to to make sure that I was OK and that I was not hurt in any way."