Alec Baldwin pledged to step away from Twitter following his response to an interview where he discussed Harvey Weinstein and Hollywood’s complicity in the scandal.
Baldwin told PBS NewsHour that he didn’t know about the dozens of actresses who had allegations against Weinstein, but he knew that Weinstein had a reputation for being particularly nasty and a bully. Over the years, Baldwin said he had heard the rumor that Weinstein raped actress Rose McGowan, but Baldwin didn’t know that McGowan settled her case with Weinstein until recently.
“Where this thing with Harvey Weinstein and Rose McGowan came along was, I had no idea, until now, that she had settled the case,” Baldwin said.
.@AlecBaldwin on a culture of complicity in Hollywood after allegations of sexual harassment and assault by fmr movie mogul #HarveyWeinstein pic.twitter.com/jHeWAhEuOg
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) November 3, 2017
He also discussed a New York Times article that suggested that when women accepted settlement payments from their abusers—which they’re encouraged to do to preserve their careers—it may hurt the kind of change taking place.
McGowan pointed to Baldwin’s interview as proof that people in Hollywood knew about Weinstein because they had heard what he had done to her and did nothing.
https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/926675960425889792
The actress Asia Argento, who alleged that Weinstein raped her in the New Yorker’s first bombshell story on Weinstein last month, responded to Baldwin and accused him of covering for his friends in Hollywood.
https://twitter.com/AsiaArgento/status/926828908653285377
Baldwin responded to Argento, telling her that “If you paint every man w the same brush, you’re gonna run out of paint or men.” Argento’s boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, replied to Baldwin’s tweet and told him that “You are really too dumb to pour piss out of a boot.”
Baldwin eventually blocked Argento on Twitter.
If you paint every man w the same brush, you’re gonna run out of paint or men.@AsiaArgento
— AlecBaldwin(HABF) (@AlecBaldwin) November 4, 2017
You are really too dumb to pour piss out of a boot
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) November 4, 2017
.@ABFalecbaldwin responds pic.twitter.com/HXHitvMIbP
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) November 5, 2017
Baldwin had previously come under fire for attacking Decider’s Kayla Cobb after she wrote about the documentary he starred in with director James Toback—who faces hundreds of accusations of sexual misconduct from women. After this latest backlash, Baldwin decided to step away from Twitter.
In a series of tweets, Baldwin explained that he didn’t mean to shame the women who accepted settlements and said that “My goal is to do better in all things related to gender equality.”
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926854522886115330
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926854850196975616
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926855125511163906
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926856382883745792
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926857239826182151
https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926859785328308224
But he did not stop, tweeting a dig at Bourdain eight hours after his promise to stop tweeting, from his foundation’s account.
So many self-seeking liars to block, so little time….@Bourdain
— AlecBaldwin(HABF) (@AlecBaldwin) November 5, 2017
Okay,