Audio Recording Clears Alec Baldwin of NY Post ‘Racial Slur’ Charge
Alec Baldwin was accused earlier today of using racial slurs in a confrontation with a New York Post photographer, and right wing blogs immediately launched into a unison chorus of howling pearl-clutching outrage, calling Baldwin a racist because they’re always gleeful when they get a chance to turn the tables and accuse a liberal of racism. It doesn’t happen very often, so they try to make the most of it. Who can blame them?
Just one problem: an audio recording of the confrontation clears Baldwin of the Post’s charges: Report: No Racial Slurs Heard on Alec Baldwin Audio.
NEW YORK, Feb. 18 (UPI) — Audio of a confrontation between Alec Baldwin and New York Post staffers doesn’t back up their claims the actor uttered racist slurs, TMZ said Monday.
The Post reported Baldwin threatened a female reporter and referred to a black photographer as a “coon,” “crackhead” and “drug dealer” when they approached him outside his Manhattan home during the weekend and asked for a comment about his pregnant yoga teacher wife, Hilaria, being sued by a former student.
However, TMZ said no racial epithets were heard on the audio it reviewed. The celebrity news website also said Baldwin can be heard on the audio saying to the reporter, “I want you to choke to death,” not, “I want to choke you to death,” as the Post team alleged.
I’ll be waiting for the wingnut blogosphere’s corrections, starting with Jim Hoft, the Dumbest Man on the Internet: AWFUL… Racist Hothead Alec Baldwin Calls Reporter a “Coon” and “Drug Dealer” | the Gateway Pundit.
(But I won’t be holding my breath.)