Alec Baldwin doesn't know when to quit—even after being fired!
The now former MSNBC talk show host, whose show was canceled in the wake of its host using a gay slur in a videotaped confrontation with a paparazzo, spoke to Gothamist hours later, both to refute a report that it was more than one profane incident that led to his ouster and to suggest that he was totally railroaded off the air.
"People who I worked with that I cared about—these people were all very supportive of the show. Now there was somebody on the staff who I did not want to work with. There was somebody on the staff who I thought wasn't a good fit for me. And I wouldn't rule out if that person went to the [New York Post] and gave them that story," Baldwin said, referring to an anecdote told to the paper in which he supposedly said he didn't "give a f--k" about a staffer having cancer because he wanted the room she was using.
"The woman using that dressing room, I was told she's allergic to some chemical, no one ever ever ever said to me that somebody had cancer, and I never said 'I don't give a f--k...,'" the Emmy winner explained.
But while that was cited as a possible contributing factor, it's the headline he made with what he was recorded saying that triggered the latest controversy.
"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,'" Baldwin lamented. "And then with the Post... there's nothing you can do when you get thrown in this washing machine, nothing...All you end up doing is just defending yourself all day long."
TMZ posted the video in question, in which the 30 Rock star lashed out at a pap who was trying to take pictures of the actor's wife and baby, along with the claim that Baldwin called the cameraman a "c--ksucking f-g"--a claim Baldwin immediately took to Twitter to deny, saying he called the guy a "fathead."
After being informed by GLAAD that the c-word he used was also a gay slur, Baldwin apologized. He then tried to further alleviate the situation by professing his love for a fellow man during a technology conference last week, but...
"Martin Bashir's on the air, and he made his comment on the air!" Baldwin further protested to Gothamist, referring to the MSNBC host, who apologized but is still under fire for saying that maybe someone should defecate in Sarah Palin's mouth after she compared Obamacare to slavery.
Bashir also happened to make the comment the same day that MSNBC suspended Up Late With Alec Baldwin.
"I dispute half the comment I made...'f----t' is not the word that came out of my mouth. That I know," Baldwin, who's shooting the new Cameron Crowe movie in Hawaii, continued. "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."
Sullivan, who once denounced Baldwin for issuing a "specific call" for violence against a gay man, hasn't commented. But Ferraro, the VP of communications for GLAAD, said in a statement that he considers his "greatest triumphs" to be the successful campaigns he has waged against discrimination.
"But," he added, "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."
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