Alec Baldwin – who infamously shot dead an up and coming cinematographer on the set of his movie – has taken to social media to call out ‘workplace abuse’ after a viral video showed former NFL player Brendan Langley and a United Airlines employee brawling.
‘The guy working at the airport is the victim,’ Baldwin wrote on Instagram Tuesday. ‘He came to work to do a job.
‘The other guy, with his big mouth, is guilty of workplace abuse, where people come to work with an expectation of safety, even civility.
‘This a**hole who hit the guy should be put on a no-fly list.’
Many online found the sentiment ironic given the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the set of his Western film, Rust, just last year and viral brawls with a parking attendant who was trying to give the 30 Rock actor a ticket and a member of the paparazzi who was trying to take a photo of him and his wife, Hilaria, in 2013.
‘A man who (accidentally) shot and killed his co-worker at work is lecturing us on WORKPLACE SAFETY? Ffs..’ Pierce Morgan wrote in the aftermath.
And conservative author Brigitte Gabriel wrote: ‘Alec Baldwin shouldn’t comment on anything ESPECIALLY workplace violence.’
Baldwin, 64, has found himself at the center of several workplace safety violation lawsuits following the October 21 death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of his Rust.
He was pointing a vintage Colt at Hutchins inside a small church during the setup for the filming of a scene, court documents claim, when it went off – killing Hutchins and wounding the director, Joel Souza.
Baldwin – who also co-produced the film with Anjul Nigam – later claimed in court documents that he was following Hutchins’ guidance on how to hold the gun and pull back the trigger without actually firing a shot.
But the New Mexico Environment Department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau has released a report citing a slew of ‘willful and serious’ safety violations following a six-month investigation into the circumstances leading up to the accidental shooting on the set.
Officials noted that while the film industry has ‘clear national guidelines’ for firearms safety, Rust Movie Productions ‘failed to follow these guidelines or take other effective measures to protect workers’.
The guidelines require live ammunition ‘never to be used nor brought onto any studio lot or stage’ and that safety meetings take place every day when firearms are being handled.
