Alyssa Farah, the former White House director of strategic communications under the Trump administration, slammed Representative Lauren Boebert on Saturday for trolling actor Alec Baldwin after the fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust.
Baldwin was handed a prop gun and assured by assistant director David Halls that it was safe before he fired it on set Thursday, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza, according to court records.
Boebert, a Colorado Republican and prominent gun-rights activist, resurfaced a seven-year-old tweet shared by Baldwin in support of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
"I'm going to make bright, banana yellow t-shirts that read "My hands are up. Please don't shoot me," Baldwin tweeted in December 2014.
"@AlecBaldwin are these still available? Asking for a movie producer," Boebert wrote Friday, alongside a screenshot of Baldwin's remarks.
Boebert's tweet quickly drew backlash from figures on both ends of the political aisle.
"If you're going to tout your Christian faith, how about trying to have some empathy and grace over a tragedy? Don't remember the part of the gospel that says 'anything for RTs,'" tweeted Farah, a conservative who served as former President Donald Trump's White House communications director and assistant in 2020.
If you’re going to tout your Christian faith, how about trying to have some empathy and grace over a tragedy? Don’t remember the part of the gospel that says “anything for RTs” https://t.co/uPT3djTpT7
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) October 22, 2021
Representative Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, called Boebert a "ghoul."
You are a ghoul. https://t.co/owURidfZqo
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) October 22, 2021
"You really have to be the most ghoulish, heartless, shittiest excuse for a human being to use a tragic accident that cost a young woman her life, to attempt to crack a joke at @AlecBaldwin's expense," tweeted CNN's Ana Navarro-Cárdenas.
You really have to be the most ghoulish, heartless, shittiest excuse for a human being to use a tragic accident that cost a young woman her life, to attempt to crack a joke at @AlecBaldwin’s expense. https://t.co/ZddmfIS0XB
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) October 22, 2021
Baldwin called the fatal shooting a "tragic accident" on Friday in his first public statement following the incident.
"There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours," the actor tweeted. "I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna."
Halls yelled "cold gun," which meant it did not have live rounds, as he handed one of three prop guns to Baldwin, according to an affidavit. Baldwin then discharged the firearm, hitting Hutchins in the chest and Souza, who was behind her, in the shoulder.
Halls was not aware that the gun had live rounds when he handed it to Baldwin, according to investigators.
Newsweek reached out to Boebert's office for comment.
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