Alec Baldwin confounds me. I hated him for that terrible message he left his young daughter last spring. Then I started watching 30 Rock, in which he’s so great that I decided he could call my own mother a bitch to her face and I’d still take his side. Now it turns out he’s a supporter of PETA, and gave a really interesting speech to a group of their supporters recently. A speech I’m assuming is supposed to be ironic or funny or make you think… but doesn’t entirely come off that way in print.
On Wednesday Alec hosted a screening of Blinders for PETA. The documentary film shows the cruelty behind New York’s horse-drawn carriages.
Actor Alec Baldwin has urged visitors to New York to ditch the city’s famous horse-drawn carriages – and get drunk and take drugs instead.
The native New Yorker claims the vices are as valid a “tradition” as the carriages, which he claims are cruel to the horses forced to pull tourists around Manhattan.
Speaking at a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals event in the city on Wednesday, Baldwin told WENN about the traditions he took part in during his youth in New York: “I walked through Union Square on my way to acting class and got offered loose joints. Drug dealing was a great tradition in this city.
“There are other traditions people can get involved with in this city. When I was younger, I used to get a bottle of wine and get drunk under the Staten Island Ferry… so there are things like that you can do.”
[From Showbiz Spy]
If you imagine him saying that last line as Jack Donaghy, it’s freaking hysterical. I hope a video surfaces. PETA president Michael McGraw clarified that Baldwin was definitely joking. He was pointing out that there were other traditions in New York that weren’t decent, and most people wouldn’t considering participating in most of those. Though to be fair, I have gotten drunk under the Staten Island Ferry. So drunk, in fact, that the whole ferry looked like it was painted a blindingly bright orange.
Here’s Alec at the PETA hosting of the screening of ‘Blinders’ in New York City on Wednesday. Images thanks to WENN.
Ha! Hysterical! I think Alec took his own advice and did exactly what he’s suggesting others do. And then made his speech on behalf of PETA. I can so see him doing this as Jack Donaghy which just gives me another reason to love him.
Back to the horses, that’s awful and if they’re not being cared for properly, then those who run the operation should be rightly condemned, fined, jailed etc.
I’ve always wondered about how those poor horses were treated, and I suspect it’s not very well. I’d hate to spend my whole day clopping along the hot pavement of NYC, hauling fat-ass midwesterners all over hell and half of Georgia. (This from an admitted fat-ass. Thing is, I would never climb into one of these carriages. So. At least I am conscientious.)
I think Alec Baldwin, overall, is a deluxe turd. However, JayBird is correct: if Jack Donaghy’d said that line about drinking wine under the Staten Island Ferry, it would have been perfectly within character.
But you know that old quote about “when someone shows you who they are, believe them”? Yeah, when Father of the Year left that message for his daughter — that he thought no one would hear, thus he was being himself — I permanently lost interest. Horse-loving or not.
I realize this is the wrong area to post this comment… I’ll let the mods decide. I think it’s wrong and unfair to judge the guy because of that ill-advised answering machine message. We’ve all been chewed out by our parents. If we’re lucky (or unlucky, depending on which way you see it), we’ve received the “adult treatment”, meaning that when we really screw up our parents don’t spare our delicate ears and instead call us exactly what we are. My parents are the best people I know and they’ve both called me a “lazy piece of shit” or “useless tit” in the heat of the moment. Likewise, I’ve called them “chauvinistic asshole” and “spiteful bitch”, not that I don’t love them both. That tape was never meant to be heard.
Feel free, however, to hate him due to his involvement with PETA. That is simply inexcusable.
Ling- I couldn’t have said it better myself!
hate PETA.
kinda like Alec.
And yeah, my mom told me to go to hell once. I flipped her off (which I still don’t live down) and we’re all still family at the end of the day. No big deal, people say shit in the heat of battle (right or wrong).
The horses are supposed to be taken off the streets when it’s 90 degrees. But a lot of the drivers will sneak to the parks with them in hopes they won’t be noticed and ordered to bring them in. The poor things, the heat coming up from the streets, must be terrible for them even at lower temperatures. Not to mention the noise pollution they have to deal with.
I am all for the ethical treatment of animals, but PETA and their tactics take away from the very thing that they claim they are out to do. I am also sick and tired of celebrities voicing their opinions about what the rest of us need to be or should be doing. Live and let live. God takes care of creatures great and small.
Ling, she was eleven when he left that message. ELEVEN.
Why does anyone give a shit what Alec Baldwin or any other celebrity says or thinks? Acting doesn’t necessarily require one to be a member of Mensa.
Really torn here. Couldn’t hate PETA more – they raise money to bail out arsonists. That’s basically supporting domestic terrorism.
Couldn’t hate Baldwin more. Kinda douchey, grates on my nerves, and the thing with his daughter was pretty inexcusable. Like someone else said, the kid was 11.
Like all the rest of you, I said awful things as a teenager, but I can’t remember once when my parents stooped to my level. Them staying level headed while I foamed at the mouth was remarkably effective, because I’d soon run out of steam without them fueling the fire. I dunno, but to me the adult should act like… well, the adult.
All that being said, they’re right about the horses. It’s not just the heat either. Very few of those outfits follow the rules, and the horses often develop insanely painful shin-splints from walking on the street. It’s the same thing that happens to long distance runners if they run on hard surfaces too often, and they’ll tell you how painful they are.
He’s doing right by getting the message out there, but by issuing the call through PETA, it almost negates anything positive it accomplishes.
I can tell that you have not been through a nasty divorce. I have and it was a nightmare. I couldn’t imagine having my ex leak items to the press like Kim does.
Please be more specific about PETA being arsonists.
The funny thing about PETA is that so many people will post comments about how much they hate PETA, but all you’re doing is raising awareness of the organization and drawing the attention that they want. Instead of hating one organization, try getting involved and supporting one.
Personally, I’m a vegetarian and agree with most of PETA’s messages, but don’t necessarily agree with the way they do some things. That said, I understand that they are as extreme as they are to draw that awareness.
And for those of you that think PETA is pointless, they just succeeded in getting the Canadian KFC chains to completely revamp the way they treat the chickens, which millions of chickens will thank them for. So if millions of people hate PETA, I think it’s well worth it to spare millions of chickens from torturess treatment (if you don’t believe me, look up the facts on KFC – if you can still eat there, you don’t have a heart). Oh, and this is just one thing they have done to better the treatment of animals among the many…
This is just one thing, you can look up the rest for yourselves, but make no mistake, they support fucking terrorists.
“PETA has given tens of thousands of dollars to convicted arsonists and other violent criminals. This includes a 2001 donation of $1,500 to the North American Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an FBI-certified “domestic terrorist” group responsible for dozens of firebombs and death threats. During the 1990s, PETA paid $70,200 to an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activist convicted of burning down a Michigan State University research laboratory. In his sentencing recommendation, a federal prosecutor implicated PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in that crime. And PETA vegetarian campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich told an animal rights convention in 2001 that “blowing stuff up and smashing windows” is “a great way to bring about animal liberation.””
“Oh, and this is just one thing they have done to better the treatment of animals among the many…”
Yeah, like killing more than 90% of the animals in their shelters? They get 30 million in annual donations, which dwarfs the ASPCA, who manages to adopt out more than 70% of all the animals it takes in.
Perhaps if they didn’t blow millions at a time to get some over the hill pornstar to do their ads, they should try… I dunno, actually HELPING ANIMALS.
Thanks for the explaination Scott. I have also seen the statement about killing over 90% of the animals in shelters, but have not seen where to go and research this claim. Do you have a link?
Not sure if I’m allowed to do this, if not, I apologize and hope you’ll remove it. The site isn’t for profit though, and I have no connection to it.
Petakillsanimals.com is a fantastic source. They have the court documents from nearly every case PETA has been involved in. Including the criminal trials of arsonists, PETA’s tax forms (including what they spent their money on), and the investigations in Virginia where they were killing all those animals.
I wish everyone would look at that site and tell me if anyone that truly cares about animals would support PETA.
Found it! Your second paragraph was word for word in an article.
Thanks!
Wow, this is bad. I hope that despite this horrible court case, that people will still donate their time/money to the rescue organization that they research and trust. There are some good ones out there.
Like him.Hate PETA.Have yelled and been yelled at choke-gasp,yes 11 years old.My god-were you brought up in a nun’s house.Is it a good thing-no…would any parent wish they could shovel it back in….yeah!Does it make you an animal or a regular human being with failings-just like every one else.Ah let’s see-yeah a regular human.Wow wish I could say my powder room smells like yours!!!!!
Sue Mac: No, actually. I was raised by a physically abusive mother and an emotionally & psychologically abusive alchoholic father. The bruises my mother left are long gone, but I still hear my father’s voice telling me that I am nothing.
There’s a difference between yelling at your kids and being emotionally destructive. I recognized the venom in that message, and it shook me to my core, because I know the kind of self-torture and self-doubt that she’s sure to face as she gets older. And it breaks my heart.
If you were blessed enough to live in a home without abuse, you’re very lucky. You’ll also never understand what it’s like to be an abused child or an adult survivor of child abuse. You should thank God every day for that kindness.
As an abuse victim you should know one statement does not make an abuser.Yes I was lucky,and yes people do get angry and say stupid jack ass things-that does not make them abusers-that takes longer than the public gets to hear from one phone recording.
Alec is wonderful in 30 Rock! HE can do no wrong in my eyes…the daughter thing was hateful but whatever, I imagine his kids are spoiled little brats by now!
Having been born in Staten Island, and lived there for 38 years, I can tell you that The Staten Island Ferry is INDEED blindingly bright orange at all times…not just when you’re drunk
Please learn to write in english before you post.
SO this one time when I was 9 years old, my parents were fighting and my mom called me a useless little shit. And, I still love her. And I’m not traumatized. And I don’t feel that my mother owed the public an apology and get this-we still get along and love each other.
Maybe if I had recorded it and released it to the public, things would be different. Thing is the only person Alec Baldwin owed an apology to was his daughter anything else was not anyone’s business. And certainly shouldn’t have any effect on the man’s career.
I mean my mom was social worker at the time. I would hate to think that all of those families that were helped by her would suddenly see her as evil just because she lost her temper in a moment of high emotions with her 9 year old daughter.
Emotional abuse has and continues to be discounted and minimized, primarily because it is so difficult to define, and its effects are largely unseen. Abusers often present a public persona/family image than what is actually the case in the home. There’s an interesting article here.
I won’t press the issue any further here, because this isn’t really the right forum to do so. But I will leave you with one last thought…
What if the tape showed him beating the hell out of her? What would your reaction have been then?
No one is trying to discount or minimize emotional abuse. What we are doing is pointing out that there is a difference between a parent flying off the handle and saying something they don’t mean to a child and a parent being emotionally abusive to their child.
Comparing an irate phone call to a man beating the hell out of his child is so far afield from the conversation at hand that it borders on ridiculous.
cmoody:
not that much difference. if a father will say that in a phone call, what will he do in person?
so glad that the message is getting out that PETA sucks the big one. i’m a house rabbit advocate, and i HATE to see the money and advertising those assholes get when the people who do the real work have to fight for every penny.
Mmmm. Business juice. Let’s go get business drunk under the Staten Island Ferry!
Alec, your drinking gene is showing here. He’s got bloated, alchy face going on.
Really, I just have to say, there is something wrong w/your life if you are on the Staten Island ferry…unless you plan to be on the very next ferry going back to Manhattan.
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Alec Baldwin is nothing but an over rated,big blowhard two bit actor. Im sorry that he is native NYer like me. Why couldnt he be from Boston?. Fuck him, fuck PETA!!!!