Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Alec Baldwin Blames All Of Us For When He Seems Like A Jerk
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 24, 2014
Modified Feb 24, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 24, 2014
Modified Feb 24, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
New York Magazine is kicking off their new redesign with a cover story written by Alec Baldwin about how Alec Baldwin is sick and tired of this world—or at least New York—and this is his "good-bye to public life."
He admits that last year was great because he and his wife Hilaria welcomed a baby girl. But other than that, there was his allegedly racist rant against a Post photographer in February (which Baldwin denied); his contretemps with Shia LaBeouf over a Broadway play they were doing (LaBeouf dropped out); his defense of his wife which resulted in calling a Daily Mail reporter a "toxic little queen"; and using a gay slur against a paparazzo, resulting in his MSNBC show being cancelled.
Baldwin mentions all these things, and goes on to call Rachel Maddow "a phony who doesn’t have the same passion for the truth off-camera that she seems to have on the air." He also takes shots at many, many, many targets from AT&T to TMZ and MSNBC, from the "Gay Department of Justice" (Andrew Sullivan, Anderson Cooper), to Bill de Blasio and Roger Ailes. [If you're too busy, here's a handy diagram that breaks down the piece.]
He also complains that "In the New Media culture, anything good you do is tossed in a pit, and you are measured by who you are on your worst day. What’s the Boy Scout code? Trustworthy. Loyal. Helpful. Friendly. Courteous. Kind. Obedient. Cheerful. Thrifty. Brave. Clean. Reverent. I might be all of those things, at certain moments. But people suspect that whatever good you do, you are faking. You’re that guy. You’re that guy that says this. There is a core of outlets that are pushing these stories out. Breitbart clutters the blogosphere with 'Alec Baldwin, he’s the Devil, he’s Fidel Baldwin.'"
The actor also discusses leaving NYC, again: "I probably have to move out of New York. I just can’t live in New York anymore. Everything I hated about L.A. I’m beginning to crave. L.A. is a place where you live behind a gate, you get in a car, your interaction with the public is minimal. I used to hate that. But New York has changed. Manhattan is like Beverly Hills. And the soul of New York has moved to Brooklyn, where everything new and exciting seems to be. I have to accept that. I want my newest child to have as normal and decent a life as I can provide. New York doesn’t seem the place for that anymore." Or maybe he should just move to Bushwick?
When we spoke to him last fall and asked him whether he would move out of New York, he replied:
New York is just... I go out the door of my house, every day there's all these photographers here. We have a little baby, you think I want my kid raised like that? My ex wife raised my other daughter in Los Angeles. What does Los Angeles mean, what does it signify? It means gated living. You pull up to a gate you go behind a wall and you're done with it. You get out of valet parking you go into a restaurant you're on private property. Your feet never touch public land!
I think to myself there's so many other places to live to be happy. You know, Bloomberg doesn't want people to drink big sodas, but he wants to make sure those paparazzi have the right to have their lenses five feet from my daughter's head.
In summation, Baldwin gives Baldwin plenty of wiggle room in his NY Magazine op-ed on Baldwin, concluding, "There’s a way I could have done things differently. I know that. If I offended anyone along the way, I do apologize. But the solution for me now is: I’ve lived this for 30 years, I’m done with it. And, admittedly, this is how I feel in February of 2014."
Tagged
alec baldwin
fidel baldwin
gay department of justice
ny magazine
paparazzi
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Inside a photographer's journey to visit every neighborhood in New York City
What do you see when you record the whole of the boroughs?
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 5, 2026
Banned books and Winnie the Pooh: October in NYC libraries
It's a busy month at the branches.
By
Alec Hamilton
Arts & Entertainment
Banned books and Winnie the Pooh: October in NYC libraries
It's a busy month at the branches.
By
Alec Hamilton
NYC music in October: The Strokes, a Blink-182 cover band, and Polish experimentalism
By
Hank Shteamer
Are you a New Yorker? The Department of New Yorker Verification will now decide.
By
Hannah Frishberg
In the mood for a pastoral autumn experience? Try Queens.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .