Alec Baldwin Drops Out of Emmy Video After Fox Cuts Rupert Murdoch Joke

30 Rock star's joke, which was originally supposed to be in the opening Emmy video, fell flat with Fox execs

By Brandi Fowler Sep 18, 2011 9:44 PMTags
Alec Baldwin, 30 RockNBC Photo: Nicole Rivelli

Alec Baldwin may be up for an Emmy this evening, but that doesn't make him funny to Fox.

The network made the decision to slim down Baldwin's bit in the opening video for tonight's Primetime Emmy Awards, after they noticed that the 30 Rock star took a couple of comedic jabs at News Corp honcho Rupert Murdoch and the U.K. phone-hacking scandal involving his media hub.

And let's just say Baldwin wasn't exactly thrilled by that news.

After learning that his jokes had gotten the axe, the actor reportedly asked execs to remove his bit from the video entirely, according to Deadline.

Then, he headed to Twitter to vent.

"Fox did kill my NewsCorp hacking joke," Baldwin tweeted. "Which sucks bc I think it would have made them look better. A little. I understand NewsCorp killing that joke. If I were enmeshed in a scandal where I hacked phones of families of innocent crime victims purely 4 profit, I'd want that 2 go away, 2."

MORE: Alec Baldwin Invites Us to Indulge in Schweddy Balls

But, don't mistake Baldwin's absence from the Emmy red carpet tonight as a diss to the show in its entirety, however.

The funnyman, who is nominated as the lead actor in a comedy series category for the fifth straight year, previously committed to attend Tony Bennett's birthday shindig in New York, which just happens to fall on the same evening. 

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