Alec Baldwin lost his cool on the streets of New York City after a comedian impersonating President Donald Trump mocked him over the 2021 Rust shooting that claimed the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
While in character as Trump, funnyman Jason Scoop captured himself in a viral video hassling the actor as he unloaded luggage outside his apartment.
“It’s your favourite president,” Scoop said as Baldwin is standing outside of a van. “Look, Alec, I will offer you a total pardon, because I want to be friends, right? I want to be friends. I will give you a total pardon for murdering that woman if you kiss the big beautiful ring.”
As Baldwin — who did his own Trump impersonation for four years on Saturday Night Live — tried to ignore him, Scoop would not let up. “Look at Alec Baldwin, right? He did that impersonation of me. It was not too hot, not too good. But look, we’re back in office. (The Democrats) lost. Kamala (Harris) lost. She’s somewhere getting intoxicated. Look at that suitcase,” he continued mimicking the president.
“Well, Alec, if you don’t want that pardon for murdering that woman in cold blood, you can call it first degree, you can call it whatever you want, but it was not good. She’s looking down on me right now, smiling, happy. ‘Thank you for confronting the man who took me out, who killed me.’”
But after the Oscar nominee paid for his ride, he lost his cool and laid into Scoop.
“You got a camera on me here?” Baldwin said, cornering Scoop and getting right up in his face. “Look at me. I want you to look at me. You realize my kids live in this building? I want you to know something. I want you to be real careful. If this camera wasn’t here, I’d snap your f***ing neck in half and break your f***ing neck right here. You know that, don’t you?”
Still, Scoop wouldn’t break character and continued to try and get a rise out of Baldwin. “OK, Alec Baldwin. All right, Alec Baldwin. Alec Baldwin, ladies and gentlemen! Class act! Believe me.”
As Scoop tried to walk away, the father of eight got visibly more upset, telling him to “get out of here” as he threatened to “shove that camera up your ass.”
“Oh, he’s yelling at me,” Scoop said. “I love you Alec … He’s got more balls than (Robert) De Niro that I can tell you. De Niro ran away.”
Last week, Scoop confronted staunch Trump critic De Niro at the premiere of his Netflix thriller Zero Day. “Bobby, it’s your favourite president,” Scoop said mockingly in character. “I forgive you Bobby for being such a loser about the election. It’s not your fault you were born with a low IQ. It’s not your fault Bobby.”
Reaction to Scoop’s video was mixed. Some followers lauded his impersonation, but many more lashed out at Scoop, saying the ambush was done “in poor taste.”
“Listen, Alec sucks, but you’re going too far,” one person wrote on X. “The one with De Niro was fine. But this is borderline harassment. You don’t need to take it to that level. It takes away from the comedic value.”
Postmedia has reached out to Baldwin’s reps for comment.
Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting death of Hutchins in 2021. The case was eventually dismissed and Baldwin has filed a civil lawsuit for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations.
But Baldwin has admitted the incident has taken a toll on him and his family in his new TLC reality series The Baldwins.
Baldwin’s wife Hilaria also opened up on how the shooting affected their children.
“Our older ones were much younger, but have had the awareness, because of their age, to be able to understand what’s going on. The youngest three don’t know a life without this,” Hilaria said. “We’re going through some very stressful things and we’re trying to parent through it.”
“Our lives are very, very different. Our children have been forced to recognize that,” Alec said. “They’ve been forced to deal with that, with us, in their own way.”
Although he kept his composure, if Baldwin had attacked Scoop, it wouldn’t have been his first viral dustup.
Last spring, Baldwin was caught on camera getting into a tussle with “ambush interviewer” Crackhead Barney, who berated the actor as she demanded he say “Free Palestine” on video.
Back in 2013, the 30 Rock star got into a fight with paparazzi in New York City.
“All I can say is I was doing my job asking him normal questions and he flipped,” the photographer told TMZ. “That’s all.”
Baldwin also clashed with photographers in 1995 and 2012 and got into a fight over a parking spot in 2018.
He was also turfed off an American Airlines flight back in 2011 for refusing to turn off his cellphone before takeoff.
“Flight attendant on American (Airlines) reamed me out 4 playing WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet, per the New York Post. “Last flight (with) American. Where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950’s find jobs as flight attendants.”