Alec Baldwin Speaks Out On The Rust Lawsuits
Actor Alec Baldwin, the man who was holding the weapon that resulted in the October 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, is speaking out on the tragedy once more.
In addressing an audience at the Boulder International Film Festival on Saturday, Baldwin referenced the "anguish," "suffering," and "horrible feelings" he says people are still collectively dealing with in the aftermath of the incident. The actor made pointed references to people he says "are not as interested in finding out what really happened" and insisted "there are two victims and nobody else is a victim" (via The Hollywood Reporter). He also spoke in general terms about some of the lawsuits that have been filed since the tragedy occurred.
"What you have is a certain group of litigants on whatever side, who their attitude is, well, the people who likely seem negligent have enough money. And the people who have money are not negligent, but we're not gonna let that stop us from doing what we need to do in terms of litigation," Baldwin added (via The Hollywood Reporter). "Why sue people if you're not going to get money? That's what you're doing."
Alec Baldwin says he relied on the safety experts
Of course, Baldwin's most recent comments reference the several lawsuits that have been filed in the months since Halyna Hutchins' death. As of this writing, a total of seven lawsuits have been filed in relation to the incident (via Yahoo! Entertainment).
Matt Hutchins, the husband of the late cinematographer, filed a wrongful death suit against Baldwin and other members of the "Rust" production in February. Matt Hutchins later appeared on the Today Show for his first on-screen interview, where he criticized Baldwin for failing to take responsibility and said that Baldwin's prior statements make it sound "like he was the victim" (via Rolling Stone). During an emotional interview in December with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Baldwin insisted that he did not pull the trigger (via ABC News).
During further statements at the Boulder International Film Festival, Baldwin also sought to highlight the issue of handling firearms on film sets, making sure to point out that he had "been without incidents" prior to his time on "Rust."
"When someone whose job it is to ensure the safety of the weapon hands someone else whose job was to be the secondary layer of protection for safety and they hand it over to and you declare that that weapon is safe — that's how I've lived my whole life," Baldwin said (via The Hollywood Reporter). "I've relied on the safety experts there to declare the gun is safe and hand me the gun. Never had a problem."