Alec Baldwinis addressing why he has deactivated his Twitter account once again.
The 62-year-old actor shut down his account on the social media platform Wednesday, this time after receiving backlash for a tweet he wrote about an article onGillian Andersonheadlined, “Gillian Anderson’s American accent throws some people off.”
“Switching accents? That sounds … fascinating,” Alec wrote alongside his retweet of the article, seemingly as a tongue-in-cheek reference to wifeHilaria Baldwin’s recent heritage controversy and resulting criticism.
Later on Wednesday, the former30 Rockstar opened up in an Instagram video, taken from inside his car while driving, about the incident and his subsequent decision to sign off of Twitter for the time being.
“Someone said this actress, who I won’t mention,had switched accents during the pressfor her show … and I just wrote, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ And of course you can’t do any irony on Twitter,” Alec said. “You can’t do irony in the United States anymore, because the United States is such an uptight, stressed-out place, and such an unpleasant place right now.”
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Alec Baldwin’s tweet.alec baldwin/twitter
Anderson, whogrew up in both the U.S. and Britain, has played characters with British and American accents and has said she finds herself using both accents in her everyday life.
“Part of me wishes I could control it, but I can’t,” the actress, 52, toldThe Telegraphin 2009. “I just slip into one or the other. When I moved to the States I tried hard to cling on to my British accent because it made me different.'”
In December, Hilaria Baldwin, 37, began trending online when social media users claimed that she fabricated Spanish roots and a Spanish accent despite being born and raised in the United States. Hilariahas since apologizedfor not being “more clear” about her cultural background.
In his Instagram video, Alec went on to say he is a “huge, huge fan” of Anderson — who recentlywon a Golden Globefor her role as Margaret Thatcher in Netflix’sThe Crown— and meant no offense, explaining, “That comment was meant to just illustrate the point that …the multicultural expressions of anyone, for that matter— whatever country, language, music, food, clothing, art — any of it, whatever of those expressions are important to you, that’s your business.”
“But I find that, of course, on Twitter — which is where all the a–holes in the United States and beyond go to get their advanced degrees in a–holiness — that Twitter is a place I had used as a news aggregator, and I suppose I will do my best to find other places that are similar in their news aggregation,” Alec continued.
TheSaturday Night Livealum cited “the unpleasantness, the harshness” and “the bitter [environment]” of Twitter for his departure, saying that being on the platform “wasn’t worth” it: “I know everybody would say, ‘Just ignore all these haters,’ [but] the problem with Twitter is [that there’s] a lot of haters.”
While this isn’t the first or even second time Alec has quit Twitter,his most recent departurebefore Wednesday came back in January after Hilaria, found herself at the center of controversy regarding her heritage.
Hilaria and Alec Baldwin in 2020.Patrick Mcmullan/Getty
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He alsoclapped back at several Instagram usersearlier this week who criticized the couple’s sixth child, daughterLucia, joining the family via surrogate five months after Hilaria gave birth to sonEduardo “Edu” Pao Lucas.
“You should shut the f— up and mind your own business,” he told one user whocommented negatively on a photoof Hilaria with their kids, replying to another, “I believe that people should simply say congratulations, or just shut the f— up. That’s it.”
source: people.com
