Alec Baldwin is weighing in on the #MeToo movement in The Hollywood Reporter's latest cover story. The 60-year-old actor says journalists were actively seeking out sexual harassment stories to target men like him in an effort to keep the #MeToo "fire" burning.
Baldwin said that in late 2017, one of his former co-stars informed him she'd been contacted by journalists who questioned her about her experience with him on the set of a 1980s film. According to Baldwin, the reporters asked her if he had sexually assaulted her during the filming and seemed particularly interested in the fact that she had been a minor at the time.
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"She goes, 'Alec, they called me and they said that a wardrobe person said you sexually molested me and that you constantly had me sitting on your lap, and they asked for comment,'" he recalled. "I go, 'My God, what did you say?' And she said, 'I told them it was ridiculous, that you never groped me.' I just remember thinking in that moment, 'Wow, they're looking for people. This is a fire that needs fresh wood, and they're coming for me.'" Baldwin's rep had no additional comment when reached by Refinery29.
This isn't the first time Baldwin has floated the notion that some were taking advantage of the #MeToo movement to target "innocent" men. Baldwin told Megyn Kelly last December that he doesn't "want to see people get hurt" and that he felt "there's a lot of accusations and no proof yet."
Baldwin stressed to THR that while he doesn't believe everyone is out to tarnish faultless reputations, he believes there's still a lot of room for casualties, even a year later. "It's not a witch hunt because a witch hunt indicates that there is very little truth, if none at all, and there is a lot of truth here," he said. "But what worries me is that this is a fire that needs constant kindling."
He further expatiated his point by mentioning Rose McGowan, who is largely seen as one of the most vocal leaders of the fight against sexual misconduct.
"She's a tragic front person for the cause," he said. "And I say that because you don't stand much of a chance of getting where you want to be if you're going to arbitrarily alienate and excoriate innocent men. ... It's like all of a sudden, she's one of the Crips — the head of her own gang."