MSNBC Suspends Alec Baldwin After Antigay Tirade

Baldwin's Up Late show will be off the air for two weeks; meanwhile, he's posted a statement apologizing for his homophobic language.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

November 16 2013 5:00 AM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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MSNBC has suspended Alec Baldwin's talk show for two weeks after the actor used abusive and homophobic language toward a news photographer, Politico reports.

The photographer approached Baldwin, who was with his wife and child, outside his Manhattan apartment Thursday morning, and Baldwin responded by calling him a "cocksucking little fag," among other things. Video of the encounter was posted by TMZ.

Baldwin apologized for his conduct in a statement posted on the MSNBC website Friday. "What I said and did this week, as I was trying to protect my family, was offensive and unacceptable," the statement reads in part. "Behavior like this undermines hard-fought rights that I vigorously support. I understand 'Up Late' will be taken off the schedule for tonight and next week."

Baldwin is well known for his liberal politics, including support for LGBT rights, but he also has a history of using antigay slurs when angry. Last summer, for instance, he called a British reporter a "toxic little queen," among other things, and he also used "queen" in reference to a New York Daily News editor. Regarding the latest incident, he initially claimed he called the photographer "fathead" instead of "fag" and asserted he did not know that "cocksucking" had an antigay connotation. He received condemnation from several quarters, including GLAAD, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper, and gay columnist Andrew Sullivan.