“Real Time” host Bill Maher went to bat for Alec Baldwin, who he believes shouldn’t be facing jail time for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Earlier this month, Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter for the 2021 accidental shooting of Hutchins on the set of his film “Rust,” which he was starring and producing.
During his “Extra time” segment on YouTube, Maher pulled a viewer query of whether he thought Baldwin must have been hit with the fees.
“No,” Maher responded. “I mean, I don’t know Alec Baldwin thoroughly in any respect. He used to do that show, he stopped doing it years ago, I’m just setting this up like I don’t have any personal, I’m not for him or against him. I like him as an actor, I don’t really know him. But unless you’re thinking that Alec Baldwin purposefully shot this cinematographer, what the f— are we talking about?”
“It’s a horrible tragedy, there could also be someone in charge whoever’s job it was to have that gun there, but I don’t think it’s the actor’s job,” Maher added.
The Free Press editor-in-chief Bari Weiss identified that Baldwin wasn’t only the actor but served because the producer of the film, which Maher quickly dismissed.
“It’s not the producer’s job either to envision the guns!” Maher exclaimed. “I mean, you may have to find a way to delegate some things in life, no?”
“However the only thing that- he said that he didn’t pull the trigger. And the gun can’t go- I mean, I don’t know enough about this case, but he said he couldn’t pull the trigger but how does a gun go off without pulling the trigger?” Weiss asked. “That’s the one thing that I used to be like, ‘That’s somewhat odd.’”
After a chuckle, Maher replied, “He did say that, didn’t he.”
“I don’t know, I don’t know. He’s an actor,” Maher said, sparking laughs from the audience. “I mean, I just… judge them on a distinct curve.”
Weiss then questioned whether there was a “motivation to go after” Baldwin due to his celebrity status. Maher responded by suggesting there’s a broader reason behind the fees.
“I just think we live in a culture where someone all the time has to take the blame. No person can ever just throw up their hands and go, ‘Oh, my God. This can be a terrible tragedy,’” Maher said. “You understand, Democrats all the time must say ‘this might never occur again’ irrespective of how rare or something- ‘we’ve got to spend a zillion dollars so this may never occur again.’ And Republicans can be like, ‘well now they’re going after your prop guns,’ .”
“Nobody could ever just be reasonable, about anything,” Maher added before moving on to the subsequent topic.
Baldwin and the film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were each charged with involuntary manslaughter by Santa Fe prosecutors after Baldwin fired a gun he unknowingly had live ammunition as a substitute of dummy rounds.
The fees could put Baldwin behind bars for 18 months or potentially as much as five years depending on the decision.
Many in Hollywood have rushed to Baldwin’s defense.
