Actor Alec Baldwin is facing backlash over a recent post on Instagram — his first post since prosecutors announced they would be pursuing involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin and the “Rust” movie armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, in connection with the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin maintains he did not know the firearm was loaded when he rehearsed a scene on the “Rust” set in October 2021. The discharge of the colt pistol injured Director Joel Souza and fatally wounded Baldwin’s friend Hutchins.
Baldwin’s attorney called New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies Thursday’s decision to charge Baldwin with two counts of involuntary manslaughter a “terrible miscarriage of justice.”
Baldwin’s Sunday post included a photo of his young son rubbing his wife’s back. His caption read: “The old ‘let me give you a back rub’ ploy.”
Baldwin later added: “Potato chips to follow.”
According to Page Six, many criticized Baldwin for what they claim mounted to his “sexualizing” children.
“Sexualizing children is always so weird, but your own child? Yikes,” one wrote.
“This caption isn’t ok. At all,” wrote another.
“This caption is disgusting,” one added.
“That’s a pretty…weird comment to make on a photo of your son and his mother,” an Instagram user said.
One user noted that Baldwin’s back rub “ploy” reference was wholly inappropriate:
“Alec. The back rub ‘ploy’ is a joke between grownups, not mother/son. omg, Google it or something. Someone please tell him!”
Though some came to Baldwin’s defense, the harsh comments prompted Baldwin to change the caption.
“I adjusted the text,” Baldwin wrote in the comments. “I guess because…you know…there is so much of that Reddit trash out there.”
The edited text read, “The old ‘let me give you a back rub’ ploy. Potato chips to follow.”
Others criticized Baldwin for not posting about the shooting, though many have indicated it would be best for Baldwin not to comment on the open case.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Neama Rahmani said: “He should keep his mouth shut and stop talking. The district attorney clearly wants to make an example of him, so he should stop taking advice from his PR team, get with his lawyers and prepare for trial.”
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