MSNBC Suspends Alec Baldwin and His Talk Show
MSNBC suspended Alec Baldwin on Friday after a furor stirred by a gay slur that he made in a confrontation with reporters this week.
His month-old MSNBC interview show, “Up Late,” was not telecast Friday night, and the network said it would not be shown next week.
In a statement Friday night, Mr. Baldwin issued a formal apology as word of the suspension leaked.
He wrote: “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.”
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This was not the first time Mr. Baldwin was accused of making homophobic comments. Last summer, he apologized after calling a male reporter a “toxic little queen” and threatening to beat him up.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/business/media/msnbc-suspends-baldwin-and-show.html?_r=0
He made the homophobic slur on Thursday. On Friday he flipped out again and although he didn't use homophobic language, he threatened yet another member of the press.
Salon has a good article:
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But rage is one thing. Homophobia is another. And once again, Baldwin has gone to an anti-gay slur in a moment of weakness, calling a photographer something that sounds to ears other than Baldwin’s a lot like “cocksucking faggot.” He has claimed, in now-deleted tweets, that he said “cocksucking fathead,” then went on to tweet about just how tolerant he was of gays and about his misunderstanding that “cocksucking,” directed at a man, has an anti-gay valence.
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The two cable news personalities’ recent shared history is illustrative of just what a phony ally Baldwin is. After Baldwin dismissed his own threats against a journalist on Twitter, calling him a “toxic little queen” and noting the writer would “dig” Baldwin anally violating him “too much” as “having nothing to do with issues of anyone’s sexual orientation,” Cooper called him out as hiding behind his self-proclaimed liberalism. “If a conservative talked of beating up a ‘queen’ they would be vilified,” said Cooper. Baldwin struck back, telling Howard Stern:
Anderson Cooper has a job to do. And that job is to reinforce his credibility in the gay community after the fact that you couldn’t get him out of the closet for 10 years with a canister of tear gas. Now he’s the sheriff. Now he’s running around writing everybody a ticket!
To recap: Baldwin threatens and mocks a “queen,” and when a gay man suggests Baldwin may not be a great ally, Baldwin mocks that person’s coming-out process. At what point does this just get pathetic?
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http://www.salon.com/2013/11/15/alec_baldwins_homophobic_rage/
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