Alec Baldwin deletes Twitter account following ABC News Rust interview

Last Updated on December 7, 2021

UPDATE: Alec Baldwin has deleted his main Twitter account following his polarizing ABC News interview regarding the fatal Rust shooting. The actor’s verified @AlecBaldwin account was taken off Twitter and is listed as “this account doesn’t exist.” Baldwin does have another verified account but he hasn’t used it in more than a year. Reaction to Baldwin’s interview regarding the Rust shooting has been largely mixed with many people believing he did the interview against the advice of his lawyer. I believe Baldwin thought the interview would clear his name in a lot of this, specifically as a producer on the film and what responsibilities he had in that position, but it seems the interview has done more harm than good.

As the investigation into the Rust movie shooting that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead and director Joel Souza wounded continues, actor and producer Alec Baldwin is giving his first on-air interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and it already looks like one emotional experience.

In a promotional clip of the interview released Wednesday, the actor breaks down when describing the late cinematographer. Also, in a soundbite that has been used to promote the interview across many outlets, Baldwin is asked by Stephanopoulos why he pointed the gun at Hutchins and pulled the trigger and Baldwin responds by saying, “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger, never.” As previous reports suggested, Baldwin was given the prop gun that he was told was a “cold gun”, meaning there was no ammunition, in this case, what should’ve been dummy rounds, in the gun. It was during a rehearsal that the gun was fired, striking Hutchins and Souza which ultimately led to Souza being wounded and Hutchins sadly losing her life. You can check out a snippet of the interview below:

Baldwin also told ABC News that he had “no idea” how a real bullet got onto the set or into the gun but said that the shooting and death of Hutchins was the worst thing that ever happened to him. Baldwin said, “I mean even now I find it hard to believe that. It doesn’t feel real to me.” In October, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said that police recovered the bullet as well as “possible additional live rounds” on set. Mendoza said at the time, “I think there was some complacency on this set, and I think there were some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry and possibly by the state of New Mexico, but I’ll leave that up to the industry and the state as to what those need to be.”

The cast and crew of Rust have largely disagreed on where the fault lies for this fatal incident. In the case of Baldwin pulling the trigger, Rust assistant director Dave Halls has maintained Baldwin’s claim that he didn’t pull the trigger on the gun. According to Halls’ attorney, Lisa Torraco, the assistant director has said from the first day she met him that he believes a misfire took place. The lawyer said, “The entire time Baldwin had his finger outside the trigger guard, parallel to the barrel, and that he told me since day one he thought it was a misfire. And until Alec said that it was just really hard to believe. But Dave has told me since the first day I meet him that Alec did not pull that trigger.”

As more lawsuits pour in and the investigation continues, I really hope that people don’t lose sight of the fact that Hutchins lost her life. While I do feel bad for others involved in this production who may be used as the face of blame for what happened when it may not be unwarranted, a part of me thinks a lot of people are doing damage control to get ahead of this thing and protect themselves. I get it, self-preservation is natural and happens on instinct but I hope that in a bid to keep their noses clean, they don’t deny Hutchins’ family and friends the true answers as to why this actually happened to her.

Alec Baldwin’s full interview with ABC News is set to air tonight at 8/7c on ABC.