Heat Street
Alec Baldwin might be an uber liberal but when it comes to his relations with the gay community, we must borrow the title of his 2009 comedy: It’s Complicated.
Baldwin writes of the scandal: “On CNN, Anderson Cooper, joined by blogger Andrew Sullivan, sounded off about the need for me to be “vilified”. I was condemned by GLAAD spokesperson Rich Ferraro. The response from every corner of the gay community was one of either judgement, condemnation, or a good deal of free psychoanalysis.
“Over time, I have come to understand the role of certain people inside of the gay community. There is no larger platform and no wider audience for their pontifications than when a famous person is “outed” as a homophobe. It is the form of outing that they love, the outing that’s right and necessary. The rest of the time, Cooper and Sullivan make due with relatively modest audiences. Unless in Cooper’s case, it’s New Years Eve.
“Ferraro, no doubt, is on a vigilant watch for the next homophobic outburst that GLAAD can raise money on. And if you’re wondering if I’ve ever used the word ‘faggot’ I call my gay friends that all the time.”
It’s unlikely that Ferraro, Cooper and Sullivan will be the only ones offended by this Milo-esque passage in Baldwin’s book, although presumably his gay friends must be used to it. (One imagines it can’t be all that easy being a friend of Baldwin’s period, even if he doesn’t call you a ‘faggot’.)
At the height of the scandal in 2013, Baldwin said in a statement on the MSNBC website: “Words are important. I understand that, and will choose mine with great care going forward.”
Except when he put pens to paper, it seems…