So...what the hell is it with Alec Baldwin and gays?

[Ken Burch]

The guy likes to present himself as the liberal's liberal...but he keeps busting out with the six-letter f-slur. Now, it's got his show on MSNBC suspended(he'll probably drop more "rhymes-with-maggot"s when they cancel him at the end of the month)

Any theories?

And should we see this as preparation for Baldwin actually doing the full Gipper on us at some point and becoming the next hero of the Right?

[el_bryanto]

1. I doubt the latter

He has talent, most of the ones who go fully to the right wing do so because they have no real talent and need a gig that doesn't require talent.

Bryant

[Ken Burch]

2. Jon Voight has talent.

(Still, I suppose there has to be the exception that somehow proves the rule).

[Drunken Irishman]

4. So does James Woods.

But yeah, they're limited.

[David Zephyr]

9. James Woods was just being himself when he portrayed Roy Cohen.

Al Pacino on the other hand acted in portraying Cohen.

Woods? Just being himself.

[Ken Burch]

14. Cohn, not "Cohen".

Jeez!

(my favorite moment in that show though, is when Cohn was sparring with the ghosts of all the people he'd messed over in his life-including the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg-all of whom were gathered at his deathbed. At one point, he calls out the ghost of RFK, who, for the benefit of younger DU'ers, had been a lawyer on Joe McCarthy's Senate committee at one point and whose dad had bankrolled McCarthy early on):

Roy: Bobby Kennedy, you were just as much of a rat as I was!
RFK's Ghose played with the perfect "Bobby" accent)But I leanerd, Roy. I learned. You never learned!

[David Zephyr]

8. Was.

He's an ass.

[Ken Burch]

10. OK, he's an ass.

But he can still act. That's all I was saying.

[femmocrat]

3. His show sucks.

Is it really cancelled already?

[LiberalElite]

13. just suspended for 2 weeks nt

[Ken Burch]

15. After which, he'll get the show folloiwng "Olbermann" on ESPN.

[Drunken Irishman]

5. It's probably much more simpler than that...

Baldwin has anger issues. When he gets angry, he yells stupid shit.

[seabeyond]

6. he uses intimidation and threat to get his way. he goes after the women and girls in his life.

generally, it pretty well guarantees he is homophobic and racist also. the "special" kinda man.

when i saw how he was with x wife and then daughter, i pretty well knew he was a crappy man. i do not care how much he advocates for liberalism. he is not a nice person.

[davidn3600]

7. He's got a temper and I dont think he thinks about what comes out of his mouth

The simple reality is the guy has some anger management problems.

[polichick]

22. Remember him yelling at his daughter...

He called her a little pig or something like that.

[davidn3600]

23. "rude, thoughtless little pig"

Whatever you do, don't miss his phone call...

[LuvNewcastle]

11. I guess we're going to get some insight into Baldwin's character.

Will he realize that he's got a problem and see that he's brought this on himself, or will he blame everybody but himself for what's happened? We should find out soon if there's really anything admirable about the man.

[SummerSnow]

12. He keeps this up, the new Mrs. Baldwin might be calling the former Mrs. Baldwin

[DefenseLawyer]

16. I don't know the man so I won't try to defend him

but for guys of a certain age growing up in the 60's and 70's, homosexual slurs were just kind of garden variety insults and not necessarily directed at homosexuals. So when Spicoli says "Those guys are fags!" in Fast Times, it's just an insult with no real thought behind it. My guess is that Baldwin grew up with those insults in his vocabulary and they still come out when he's angry. That's not an excuse any more than someone growing up in the deep south getting a pass for saying "nigger", but it may explain where it comes from.

[JHB]

21. I can tell you almost for certain that he did.

Baldwin's a few years older than me, and grew up in the next town over. He went to the same high school my older cousins did. At least two of them were there when he was.

The words he used were part of the standard verbal ammunition for insults for youth in that time and place, especially when it was getting really nasty. Latent homophobia was pretty pervasive -- especially among young men -- and few if any were inclined to stick their necks out to rebuke the overt ones.

My take on it is pretty similar to yours. But he definitely needs to control his anger, or learn to cut himself off when crap like that boils up.

[pnwmom]

43. I'm in that general age group and nice guys never used those slurs.

Never ever.

He's been a creep all along.

[Logical]

17. He is a total jerk. No class. Many examples. n-t

[JHB]

18. My guess is that some stuff got imprinted a bit too tight when he was growing up...

...and it's crap that foams out when he gets bust-a-vein angry.

The man needs a kill-switch for the name-calling vocabulary he grew up with, and he hasn't got one.

[FreeState]

19. Hes a homophobe

Doesn't matter what laws he supports, he uses slurs as if they mean something, meaning the words he is using to insult people show how he really feels about gay people - non homophobic people don't call people "cocksucking faggot" simple as that.

[tblue37]

33. Also, when Anderson Cooper criiticized him about it, Baldwin in an interview

"straightsplained" Cooper's criticism by suggesting Cooper was trying to beef up his "gay cred" by "handing out tickets" to people like him.

I think that explanation itself suggests that he feels contempt for Cooper specifically for being gay.

[seabeyond]

37. you are right. simple a bigot. and arrogant to believe he could say whatever shit he wants. nt

[Dreamer Tatum]

20. Uh, he's a raving homophobe? nt

[cordelia]

24. I think perhaps raging homophobia may just play a part. Just a guess.

Oh, and he's a prick.

[davidpdx]

25. I'm not sure what his problem is other than anger which is very obvious

Whomever made the decision at MSNBC to give him a show is an idiot.

[hrmjustin]

26. He should know better.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. He's a blustering blowhard.

Typical example of why I avoid the East Coast.

[dionysus]

31. yes, because everyone from the east coast is JUST like alec baldwin...

[Warren DeMontague]

32. No, absolutely not.

But enough are, in my own personal subjective experience, to make me avoid the place.

Too fucking uptight, edgy, aggro and pushy for my taste. But I understand some people love it.

[Agnosticsherbet]

28. He is an imperfect individual with considerable emotional baggage and bias

who happens to be in love with himself.

He appears to share a lot of liberal beliefs, while holding onto certain bigoted ideas.

[bravenak]

29. He just says stupid shit.

Like that time he left a voicemail for his daughter calling her a pig. You could tell he was trying to find an insult tailored to her specifically, one that would hit her hard. What better way than calling your teenage daughter a Pig. Most teenagers have body issues and feel awkward, so calling her fat will really fuck with her.
All she did was miss a phone call.http://m.

&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dlgj6NEk9xEw

[Cleita]

30. I put on Inside Edition tonight waiting for the news

and they had footage of Alex being harassed by paparazzi and him giving back worse than a verbal insult. There were threats, physical assaults and more. The paparazzi surrounded his wife carrying a baby and she begged them not to come so close to the child. I really feel bad for celebs who have to put up with that and he certainly is hot headed about it.

Maybe he needs to hire some muscle to keep those news people away from him. Many of them had Fox News logos on their mikes. I'm sure many of the others were bottom feeders too.

On edit: The videos are on their website. I can't post links right now, but go there and judge for yourself.

[arely staircase]

34. alcohol?

[Arugula Latte]

35. That's what I was thinking.

I think most likely his mental demons are being exacerbated by booze.

[840high]

36. He's a total jerk.

[idwiyo]

38. He is a homophobic bigot.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

39. I don't know if he hates gays in particular ..

.. or just hates everyone in general.

If he didn't say "faggot", then any other disrespectful slur would do just fine.

Maybe MSNBC will cancel his show and replace it with Charlie Sheen.

[Ken Burch]

41. Baldwin pretty much ALWAYS says the six-letter f slur, though.

You never hear him mix it up and throw in an "n word" or anything else.

[MineralMan]

40. Alec Baldwin is an asshole in general.

He epitomizes the reasons I don't think about actors when I want political information.

He has a show on MSNBC? Who cares? He's still an asshole.

[pnwmom]

42. He's an actor who enjoys playing a progressive on TV

but he's actually a narcissistic bully with little empathy for real live human beings.