Alec Baldwin’s Most Unforgettable Outbursts: A Look Back
Alec Baldwin isn’t a guy who internalizes his anger – as evident by his headline-making spat with a newspaper photographer over the weekend during which he may or may not have hurled racial slurs. (He adamantly denies the allegations.)
The 54-year-old, who is expecting a baby with new wife Hilaria Baldwin, has a long history of losing his cool over matters big and small. Here are some of the things that have caused the “30 Rock” star to blow his stack...
Baldwin vs. Baldwin: Perhaps the most memorable incident – and one that is perhaps impossible to top – was his 2007 tirade against his then-11-year-old daughter, Ireland. While things are peachy between father and child now, at the time he was embattled in a custody dispute with his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, and when he called to speak with their daughter at a pre-arranged time, Ireland didn’t answer and he was seething. The voicemail message that he left the child was later leaked – and it was brutal. “You are a rude, thoughtless little pig. You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being,” he screamed. Speaking about the incident last year, Ireland – now 17 – told Page Six magazine that it wasn’t an isolated incident. “The only problem with that voicemail was that people made it out to be a way bigger deal than it was. He's said stuff like that before just because he's frustrated. For me it was like, 'OK, whatever.' I called him back, I was like, ‘Sorry, Dad, I didn't have my phone.’ That was it.”
Baldwin vs. American Airlines: Nobody comes between Baldwin and his Words With Friends games! The actor engaged in a literal war of words with American Airlines employees in 2011 when he wouldn’t power down his phone while the plane was still on the tarmac. After he was tossed from the flight, he took to Twitter to bash the female flight attendant, whom he described as a “retired Catholic school gym teacher” from the 1950s. "Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving," he tweeted. "Now on the 3 o'clock American flight. The flight attendants already look... smarter." And: "My words with friends user name is now #theresalwaysunited." He later made fun of the incident on “Saturday Night Live.”
Baldwin vs. The New York Daily News: Perhaps his wedding preparations had him on edge? Last June, about a week before he married Hilaria, Baldwin had another nasty run-in with a newspaper photographer – this time from the New York Daily News – outside his Manhattan apartment. However, he escalated the disagreement with a tweet, which then made its own headlines. “A ‘photographer’ almost hit me in the face with his camera this morning,” he wrote, giving it the hash tag: all paparazzi should be waterboarded. That was followed with an unfortunate reference to the Trayvon Martin shooting. “I suppose if the offending paparazzi was wearing a hoodie, and I shot him, it would all blow over,” he wrote.
Baldwin vs. Republicans: Baldwin is one of the more outspoken celebrities when it comes to politics – he reportedly vowed to leave the United States if George Bush was elected, but later denied making the promise – and has gone head-to-head with many republicans. One of his bigger spats was with conservative blogger Michelle Malkin over the 2011 execution of Troy Davis, a Georgia man who maintained his innocence despite being convicted of murdering an off-duty police officer. After Malkin instigated the spat, Baldwin didn’t let up. He sarcastically called her a “great thinker,” then asked his followers to tweet their outrage at the writer – and thousands of them did.
Baldwin vs. Another New York Post Photographer: Baldwin’s distain for the New York Post is well documented, but he had another headline-making fight with a photographer from the paper in 2010. After a bizarre incident in which his daughter Ireland called 911 – from California – to say that her father was suicidal, Baldwin was taken to a local hospital, examined and returned to his Manhattan apartment. There, he was besieged by paparazzi and became engaged in a physical altercation with a photographer who tapped his arm. While waiting for police to arrive to deal with that incident, Baldwin paced around the lobby muttering, “They are the lowest scum of the Earth. They are the lowest scum of the Earth," an eyewitness said at the time. No charges were filed.
Baldwin vs. NBC: The actor bit the hand that fed him in 2011, when he lashed out at the “Today” show – which like “30 Rock” is NBC-owned – for camping out in front of his apartment building to report on the drama surrounding Baldwin and his accused stalker Genevieve Sabourin. “A story about stalking sure brings out the stalkers in the media. But, the Today Show?” he tweeted. “I think I’m leaving NBC just in time.”
Baldwin vs. a Twitter Hater:
The star defended his then-fiancée’s honor in March 2012 when someone sent harassing messages to Hilaria on Twitter. Baldwin called out the user for their “borderline threatening” messages by posting the person’s handle, @scarfacemadam, and asking his followers to go to her page, read her tweets, and weigh in on her behavior. Needless to say, @scarfacemadam deleted her account soon after.
Baldwin vs. National Enquirer: While Baldwin is often the subject of tabloid fodder, a 2010 story in the National Enquirer – which said he screamed at Tina Fey on the “30 Rock” set – really ticked him off. The actor called out tabloid columnist Mike Walker for the alleged tale, but took it to another level by describing the journalist as a “whore” and “queen.” Walker responded by calling Baldwin “a raging closet homophobe” and saying “for the record: I am not gay, as my wife will attest,” but that didn’t stop Baldwin from getting the last word. He told the New York Post, "Yes, he [Walker] is a goat-footed, wheezy, old queen, and all my male lovers agree with me."
Baldwin vs. Starbucks: Not even baristas are safe from the wrath of Baldwin! After an unpleasant exchange with a Starbucks employee in New York City in 2011, he called out the latte slinger on Twitter: “Starbucks on 93 and B'way. Uptight Queen barista named JAY has an attitude problem.” His tweet went viral, prompting other staffers to defend “Jay.” “I was here when it happened – it was really just [Alec] being an [expletive],” one person told the New York Post. “He was very rude and disrespectful and arrogant. He’s probably the rudest guy I’ve ever met.”
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