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Alec Baldwin doubled down on his comments on NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo following his resignation on Tuesday amid allegations of sexual harassment.
Shortly after Cuomo announced he was stepping down, the 63-year-old actor called the day "tragic" in a tweet that caught almost immediate backlash as people accused him of defending the embattled politician's actions.
Baldwin followed up his tweet by sharing a comment he left to one of his detractors on Instagram. In the lengthy response, Baldwin explained that what he found "tragic" about the Cuomo situation was not that a good politician is now out of office. Instead, he was lamenting that there are so many like him who have become "disconnected" from what the people who voted for them care about.
"I am not seeking to ‘minimize’ Cuomo’s actions regarding sexual harassment. What he did is wrong. Everyone gets that. And now he is leaving," Baldwin wrote. "When I wrote that this is tragic, I meant to suggest that nearly all powerful politicians are isolated, in the extreme, from reality. The people who you vote for in this country in the broader, more powerful elected positions, don’t give a sh-- about you. Or what you want. They work for their large donors, unions and corporations. That is how the US System is designed. Powerful people holding on to power."
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The actor went on to note that Cuomo spent much of his three terms as governor "in that rarified air" before he "got caught." He alleged there are countless more political figures out there just as "disconnected" from reality.
However, his thoughts on the matter weren’t done there.
On Tuesday evening, he shared yet another Instagram post, this one a roughly 15-minute video in which he sits shirtless on what appears to be his patio to discuss the Cuomo situation further and, for some reason, Scarlett Johansson’s Disney lawsuit.
"I wrote about Cuomo. I said it was ‘tragic,’ and by’ tragic,’ I don’t mean what happened to him… what happened to us!" he said.
The actor who previously portrayed former President Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live" went on to note that he doesn’t want to "pile on Cuomo" arguing that what he is going through with the sexual harassment allegations and resignation is "sad" both for him, his daughters and their mother, who Baldwin notes is a personal friend.
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The star then drew an odd comparison to Cuomo and mass shooters. He explained that whenever "something unspeakable" happens, specifically mentioning mass shootings at churches and temples, there is always a woman "in the front row" standing by her son, the perpetrator. However, he never fully explained who the "mother" is in the metaphor.
"When these things happen it’s a shame for our society. Cuomo was a person who was presumed to be president… Then when that didn’t work out, he was presumed to be the person to have a fourth term."
Cuomo served three terms before resigning, Baldwin noted that he would have likely achieved what his father never did, a fourth term, in 2022 — offhandedly noting that the "nursing home thing" could have presented a hurdle.
Alec Baldwin defended New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a series of social media posts. (Jim Spellman/Getty Images)
Aside from the scathing response to the sexual harassment claims, Cuomo has faced bipartisan calls to resign for months amid allegations that his office significantly underreported the number of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes. In January, New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ office concluded Cuomo’s team may have undercounted the number of deaths by as much as 50%.
"That’s not the point," the actor said before quickly moving on to present a hypothetical situation. Baldwin seemingly engaged in an effort to explain away Cuomo’s behavior with the women who worked in his office, 11 of whom he was found to have sexually harassed.
Baldwin noted his time at George Washington University working for his Congressman in Washington D.C. to explain how the intentions of "political junkies" can be misunderstood. He even managed to fit in a dig at Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.
"Let’s say you’re the Governor of New York and a young intern is in your office or a new hire is in your office and they’re sitting there and they’re smiling at you and they’re giving you this kind of warm glow," he explained. "And the mistake that’s often made by some of these people is, that warm glow is reserved for the office of the governor, that’s what’s causing them to glow."
He later added: "You’re sitting there going, ‘oh man, I think that this woman is into me, she’s got that special glow that tells me… I think she’s into me.’ Then what are you going to do? Are you going to go on from there? Not everybody does but some do. That’s a mistake that gets made when you’re living in that bubble.
"Someone who is the Governor of New York, a big state, a powerful state with the budget and the economy... This isn’t Kentucky. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, that’s who they send to the Senate in Kentucky. Boy, that should tell you everything you need to know. One state sends Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul to the U.S. Senate... But I digress."
Baldwin merely summed up the feelings he believes these women were having as being "intoxicated" by the status of the Governor’s office, making Cuomo mistakenly believe they were romantically attracted to him. The messages seemingly doubles down on Baldwin’s previous tweet in which he railed against cancel culture for taking Cuomo down.
Alec Baldwin spoke out about Andrew Cuomo's resignation in a series of social media posts. (Getty Images)
"Anyway it’s tragic for us, when these things happen, it’s tragic for us in our society," he concluded of Cuomo. "How much more negative, how many more ruptures do we need in our society?"
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At roughly the halfway mark in his lengthy, rambling 15-minute video, Baldwin then pivoted his one-man conversation over to Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit against Disney.
The Marvel star, 36, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that Disney breached her contract when the media company simultaneously released the superhero film on both Disney+ (for a $30 fee) and in theaters. Johansson says in the suit that her contract guaranteed exclusive theatrical release of the film and a large part of her salary hinged on the film having successful ticket sales.
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Baldwin criticized the company for "moving the goal post" on Johansson and said that rebuked the studio for allegedly faulting her for wanting to risk people’s health by going to the theaters amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"There’s more honor and integrity in the narcotics business than the movie and television business," he said.
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