Alec Baldwin Calls For Police Officers On All Hollywood Sets
In the wake of the tragic shoot on the set of Rust, Alec Baldwin is calling on all Hollywood sets with guns to employ police officers.
This article is more than 2 years old
In the wake of the tragic accident on the set of Rust, the movie’s star and executive producer Alec Baldwin is making a controversial suggestion. Baldwin took to social media on Monday and wrote that every single TV and film production set using guns should have a police presence responsible for weapons safety. The suggestion may have seemed reasonable to Baldwin, but a lot of people seem to disagree.
Alec Baldwin originally posted the remark to his Twitter account on Monday, which has since been set to private. However, he also shared a screenshot of the tweet to his Instagram account. In the post, he says whether the TV/Film sets use real or fake guns, they should all “have a police officer on set, hired by the production.” The officer’s responsibility, Baldwin writes, should specifically be “weapons safety.” You can see the post below.
The fact that it’s Alec Baldwin making this suggestion shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s possible that, had he never been involved with the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins, he might still make the argument. While conservatives often associate with him the political left — perhaps moreso because of his Donald Trump impersonations on Saturday Night Live than for any other reason — on the subject of defunding the police, Baldwin sides with the right. Last Ausgust, in response to calls to defund the police in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Baldwin posted a video to his Instagram, saying that the idea of defunding the police went against “common sense.” He said we need police to protect us, though he also added that he thought too many police were “over-equipped and under-trained.” You can see the video below.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Alec Baldwin’s call for police on sets flies against what many of his entertainment colleagues in the activist group BLD PWR are fighting for. Members such as Tessa Thompson, Tiffany Haddish, and Cynthia Erivo signed what was called the Hollywood 4 Black Lives letter which, among other things, asks police be taken off sets. While Baldwin didn’t refer to this letter or the issue of the alleged abuse of Black people by the police in his post, some on social media are taking his statement as, at worst, a conscious threat to people of color on Hollywood sets. Or, at best, a suggestion of white privilege oblivious to the needs of his colleagues of color.
While Alec Baldwin’s statement isn’t proving as popular as he likely hoped, many are still betting on positive change coming out of the Rust tragedy. Last month The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke pledged to ban all blank rounds on sets he worked on, opting instead to add muzzle flashes in post-production. Kripke called on other creators to join him. Likewise, earlier this month Dwayne Johnson said all sets on his company Seven Bucks Productions would be banning real guns and replacing them with fake, rubber guns. Meanwhile The Suicide Squad writer/director James Gunn argues that the problems aren’t the guns or the blank rounds, but the disregard for the safety protocols that are already in place.
