It’s wonderful to be a liberal in Hollywood — you can get away with anything.
Take Alec Baldwin. He was arrested on Saturday and charged with assaulting a fellow Manhattanite who he claims stole his parking spot. But NBC — where he stars on “Saturday Night Live,” playing President Trump — didn’t do a thing (other than to make a crude joke on SNL about the attack). And ABC aired “The Alec Baldwin Show” on Sunday night as scheduled, offering up no comment at all.
Being a limousine liberal is a get-out-of-jail-free card, and one that Baldwin has played many times.
Who can forget the time the “30 Rock” actor launched homophobic slurs at a photographer that was taking pictures of him on a public street, calling him a “c**k-sucking fag.” And he called a British journo a “toxic little queen.”
It’s been a longtime habit of Baldwin, his homophobic rants. Way back in 1992, he called a horse-drawn carriage driver a “faggot.”
Then there was the time Baldwin said he hoped a female reporter would “choke to death.”
Another time, Baldwin got a ticket riding a bike the wrong way down a one-way street. But he also got belligerent, ripping the police with a spew of profanity, and he ended up in handcuffs (yet again). The list goes on: He was kicked off a flight in 2011 when he refused to turn off his cellphone (he was too busy playing “Words With Friends”). On his way out he bashed a bathroom door in a rage. Then there was the time he left a message on an answering machine for his 12-year-old daughter (or 11, he wasn’t sure) calling her a “rude, thoughtless little pig.”
So, it’s pretty clear Baldwin has an anger problem. And a homophobia problem. And he’ll never be named Father of the Year.
But the way Baldwin has been treated has been far different than the treatment of Roseanne Barr and Megyn Kelly, who were big stars for ABC and NBC, respectively. Both were drummed out quickly amid charges of racism — and it looks, at least right now, as if both have lost their careers.
Yet Baldwin suffers no consequences for his action — none. Of course, the comments from Barr and Kelly were more incendiary, but they both appeared to be first-time offenders.
NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” meanwhile, made light of Baldwin’s arrest.
In the show’s “cold opening,” various actors parodied a Fox News segment reporting on the migrant caravan that is currently moving through Mexico toward the U.S. souther border. At the end of the skit, Kate McKinnon, playing Fox host Laura Ingraham, says: “When we come back, an update from disgraced former actor Alec Baldwin, seen here molesting a young Boy Scout.” On screen was a photo of Baldwin in a previous skit with Adam Sandler titled “Canteen Boy.”
Baldwin has not apologized for the alleged attack over the weekend, but in past incidents, he got away with brief mea culpas.
After he threatened a gay Daily Mail reporter, George Stark, saying “I’m gonna f*** … you … up,” he issued a statement to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) stating: “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.”
And he was good to go.
After he called a photographer a “c**k-sucking fag,” he also apologized — but made more excuses.
“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,” he said.“Words are important. I understand that, and will choose mine with great care going forward.”
He then added: “What I said and did this week, as I was trying to protect my family, was offensive and unacceptable.”
Now, maybe Baldwin will learn that punching people is also “unacceptable.” One way to do that would be to send him to jail if he’s convicted of assaulting a man.
But he’ll have his day in court in New York City, and he’ll be right back on the streets, spewing his homophobic rants and sometimes punching people. Because the rules simply don’t apply to Hollywood liberals.