The “It’s Complicated” actor was en route to an engagement Monday evening when he walked through a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York City. A source close to the actor told The Times that “Alec was on his way to volunteer to teach an acting class. He had no intention of going to the protest and was not involved in any way. He was approached aggressively and repeatedly. The police stepped in to avoid further confrontation so he could make his way to the class safely.”
Video of the altercation shows Baldwin becoming increasingly irate with a protester who held a phone camera up and asked the actor if he condemned Israel. “That’s my business. That’s my business,” Baldwin is heard saying to the protester.
The protester is then heard saying, “You work for Hollywood, do you condemn Israel?”
“You’ve already got your mind made up, every question you’ve got, right?” the actor replied, growing visibly angrier. “I’m in Hollywood’s pockets, you said? You ask stupid questions.”
The protester yelled back saying, “Is that your answer?”
“Ask me a smart question! Ask a smart question!” Baldwin shouted back, as he pushed his way toward the protester, who continued yelling, “Do you condemn Israel? Do you condemn Israel?” Several New York police officers then jumped between the two and escorted Baldwin away from the scene.
The protester, who continued to pursue and film Baldwin, shouted, “Go f— yourself” and “Why did you even come here?”
“Shut the f— up,” Baldwin appeared to yell back as police walked him away.
A representative for the New York Police Department told The Times that NYPD Community Affairs officers separated Baldwin from the group of protesters to prevent further escalation. No arrests were made and no injuries were reported in the incident, the spokesperson said.
In seemingly related news, on Tuesday morning, Baldwin shared a video on Instagram of Dame Judi Dench performing a dramatic reciting of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29.
Baldwin has been embroiled in legal battles and controversy since cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed on the set of “Rust” in 2021. While rehearsing a scene, Baldwin drew his prop revolver from his holster and aimed it at the camera. The weapon fired, fatally striking Hutchins and wounding the film’s director, Joel Souza, who was standing next to her.
The poem — which Baldwin shared along with the caption “This . . .” — has been characterized as plumbing emotions of envy and alienation and the uplifting power of love.
“When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.”