Actor Alec Baldwin has distanced himself from allegations he hurled racist comments at a photographer during an altercation with a news crew, insisting his years of working for minority rights should be proof enough he would never be so crude.
Earlier this month, the 30 Rock star became embroiled in a dispute with New York Post staff photographer G.N. Miller outside the Manhattan yoga studio owned by his pregnant wife, Hilaria Thomas. Police officers were called to the scene and both men filed complaints, with Miller accusing Baldwin of hurling a derogatory slur at him.
The actor spoke out about the incident during a Monday appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman, and stated, "I would like to begin now an official campaign to get the New York Post nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for journalism.
He joked, "When you think about it, it's just incredibly stalwart of them. I mean, all the 25 years I was working on voter registration in Florida... and working with the Kennedy Center for Human Rights, and (working) in Africa, and all these different things... the Post waited and waited and waited patiently for 25 years and finally they tripped me up and exposed me for the racist that I really am."
The 54 year old has received a lot of bad press over the incident, but Baldwin isn't concerned since he knows his true fans will be able to see through the drama.
He added, "The good news is, for me, I think that when something like that happens, which is something that is very ugly and unpleasant, that 99 per cent of the people who see that say that's not possible. They know you well enough, and you've worked hard enough; it's the multitude of things that I've done, that they know that's not possible. And then there's one per cent who you're never going to capture them, you're never going to win them over.
"If (former U.S. President) George Bush's mother fell through the ice on a pond in Kennebunkport (Maine), and I went out on the ice and saved Bush's mother from drowning,... the first thing the Post would say is, 'Look at the way he twisted her arm! He twisted her arm! He manhandled her!'"
Baldwin, a fervent Democrat, was a vocal opponent of Bush's presidency.
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