Alec Baldwin Apologizes for Using Gay Slurs in Twitter Rant Against a Reporter

Alec Baldwin issued an apology to GLAAD on Friday after he used gay slurs to attack a reporter.

On Thursday, the former 30 Rock star launched an expletive-filled Twitter rant against a journalist who claimed that his wife Hilaria had tweeted all through James Gandolfini's funeral. 

On Thursday, The Daily Mailpublished an article by George Stark that said, "It may not be considered funeral etiquette, but Alec Baldwin and his heavily pregnant wife Hilaria took to Twitter during James Gandolfini's service today. The pregnant yoga instructor's social media feed was full of upbeat posts ... Messages included a request for ideas about wedding anniversary presents and promotional notes about her upcoming appearance on the Rachael Ray show." (Hilaria's Twitter page shows a series of retweets, not original tweets.)

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After catching wind of the story, Baldwin immediately went on a Twitter rampage, writing, "My wife and I attend a funeral to pay our respects to an old friend, and some toxic Brit writes this f---ing trash."
He added: "George Stark, you lying little bitch. I am gonna f%#@ you up. ... I'm gonna find you, George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I'm gonna f——...you...up. ... I want all of my followers and beyond to straighten out this f---ing little bitch, George Stark."
Baldwin insisted that his wife didn't use her phone during the funeral. "My wife DID NOT use her phone, in any capacity, at our friends [sic] funeral. Now, f--- this twitter + good luck to all of you who know the truth," he wrote before deleting his account. (Buzzfeed has posted screenshots of his rant here.)

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However, after GLAAD reached out to Baldwin, the actor issued the following comments "My ill-advised attack on George Stark of the Daily Mail had absolutely nothing to do with issues of anyone's sexual orientation. My anger was directed at Mr. Stark for blatantly lying and disseminating libelous information about my wife and her conduct at our friend's funeral service. As someone who fights against homophobia, I apologize," Baldwin said in a statement to GLAAD. "I have worked, periodically, with numerous marriage equality organizations, especially over the past couple of years, to achieve the very rights that gay couples are earning by recent court decisions. I would not advocate violence against someone for being gay and I hope that my friends at GLAAD and the gay community understand that my attack on Mr. Stark in no way was the result of homophobia."

GLAAD's Vice President of Communications, Rich Ferraro, issued a response: "Alec Baldwin is making it clear that the intent behind his tweets does not excuse his language, especially at a time when there were 11 incidents of violence against gay men in New York City just last month. As we all work to end such senseless acts of violence, allies like Baldwin are right to use these moments to reinforce support for the community and LGBT equality."

Hours before Baldwin's comments to GLAAD were released, his rep issued a statement on behalf of Baldwin Friday morning, saying, "It's disgraceful that a reporter would manufacture and publish a story and not call for comment or explanation — especially when it's intended to take away attention from honoring the memory of a beloved figure like James Gandolfini. There are multiple witnesses to the fact that Hilaria left her phone in the car and wouldn't, couldn't, and didn't tweet during the service."

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Hilaria also defended herself on Twitter, saying, "FYI I don't believe in bringing phones into a funeral and I never did and I never would."

The whole thing was possibly a misunderstanding due to the fact that Twitter converts timestamps into the time zone the person reading them is in. Hilaria also pointed out via a retweet, "When someone tweets something at a certain time, and you retweet it later, it posts the TIME the first person tweeted."

This is the third time Baldwin has deleted his Twitter account. He first shut it down after his dispute with American Airlines in December 2011 when he was told to stop playing Words with Friends on a flight. He also briefly quit last summer after marrying Hilaria.

What do you think of Baldwin's meltdown?