Alec Baldwin’s brother Daniel reckons his star sibling bears “no responsibility” for shooting dead his cinematographer — and is being made a scapegoat because of his “staunch” political views.
“It’s really, really apparent that Alec has no blame in this at all,” Daniel Baldwin, 61, insisted Monday in an interview on “The Domenick Nati Show.”
“I know that sounds terrible because a life was lost,” he said of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the 42-year-old mom his brother shot dead on the New Mexico set of “Rust.”
“But remember, the actor’s an idiot,” Baldwin insisted, contradicting other moviemakers in suggesting that the star could never be expected to make his own safety checks on the gun he used.
“Alec’s got the name, though, doesn’t he,” Baldwin said of the focus on his brother, who was also a producer of the low-budget Western.
“So let’s go ahead and take Alec for his political views and the many, many wonderful things that he’s done … and let’s see if we can’t sensationalize this and go after Alec,” he moaned.
“Because he’s opinionated and he’s strong-headed and he has really staunch views on certain things.
“And those people [who] don’t like him will take advantage of him and persecute” him and his wife, Hilaria, he said, referring to his Boston-born sister-in-law when she was caught lying about being Spanish.
“He’s a target,” insisted the loyal sibling, the eldest of the four Baldwin brothers.
“But let them run with it, because six months from now, everyone’s gonna realize — people are gonna go to jail or they’re going to be sued or whatever, and it won’t be him,” he said.
His brother has, in fact, already been named in one lawsuit over Hutchins’ death, and authorities have stressed that he has not been “ruled out” of possible future charges.
Asked directly if he was “saying that Alec is being attacked because of what his political views are,” Daniel insisted, “Oh, for sure he is, yeah. Yeah, for sure.”
But asked what political views he was referring to, Daniel snapped, “Let’s not talk about that, bro. Let’s not talk about that.”
Daniel conceded that there appeared to have been “mind-boggling” mistakes made on his brother’s production, saying that they appeared to have broken “every rule” for gun safety on set.
“Alec, he’s crushed by this. I mean, he loved this woman. He loves what he does, and he feels terrible that this horrendous accident has occurred, but he bears no responsibility for it at all,” he insisted.
“I can only imagine what he’s going through. He’s a dad, he’s a good man, he’s a good human being, he’s my friend — he’s my brother and I love him,” Daniel said.