Alec Baldwin has spoken out in a new podcast where he claims Americans ‘wanted him dead’ following the shooting on the set of Rust.
The tragic 2021 incident saw cinematographer Halyna Hutchins being accidentally killed by a pistol bullet, while the film’s director Joel Souza was also wounded.
Following civil lawsuits from the script supervisor, Hutchins’ family and Baldwin himself, the Beetlejuice star and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were both charged with involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors said. Guiterrez-Reed was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months behind bars.
Baldwin ultimately pleaded not guilty to the charge and always denied pulling the trigger.
Earlier this year, Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case was thrown out on grounds of misconduct by police and prosecutors.
Baldwin has been speaking recently on David Duchovny’s Fail Better’podcast, where he spoke about the fatal incident and the events that followed.
“There’s more to come, but the more to come is now my effort, and it’s going to be undeniably a successful effort, to raise and to expose what really happened,” Baldwin said.
“I was counterpunching. I was on the defensive. I was being accused. I was being indicted.”
The actor went on to speak about his perception following the shooting and what he believes Americans think of him.
“In this country when people hate you on that level, they want three things. They want you to die,” Baldwin continued in his discussion with Duchovny.
“The second thing is they want you to go to prison. These political crowds, both sides, love to see their enemies put in prison for years because prison is like a living hell.
“The third thing is they want you canceled, which is like being in prison or being dead because you roam the earth and you’re invisible.”
Baldwin wasn’t afraid to touch on the case either, stating he is ‘very grateful’ the judge thrown it out earlier this year.
He continued: “The judge canceled the case. She ruled that it was dismissed with prejudice, which I’m very grateful for because it was a very informed decision on her part.
“But if I’d gone all the way and gotten a verdict, that’s a little bit better because a bunch of people in a jury had considered the facts and we would’ve presented so much more. All that doesn’t get presented because the case is over.”
