GLAAD: It’s unfortunate Alec Baldwin can’t see why his anti-gay slurs are wrong
America’s largest LGBT media advocacy group has responded to criticism from actor Alec Baldwin, who accused the organisation of being responsible for losing his MSNBC talk show following last week’s homophobic rant at a photographer.
GLAAD criticised Baldwin after he was caught on camera calling one photographer a “cocksucking fag.”
Rich Ferraro, head of public communications at GLAAD, said in a statement: “Mr Baldwin can’t lend his support for equality on paper, while degrading gay people in practice.”
Earlier this week, MSNBC pulled the plug on Baldwin’s late night talk show.
Speaking with The Gothamist, the actor singled out Mr Ferraro for criticism.
“You’ve got the fundamentalist wing of gay advocacy—Rich Ferraro and Andrew Sullivan—they’re out there, they’ve got you. Rich Ferraro, this is probably one of his greatest triumphs. They killed my show. And I have to take some responsibility for that myself.”
In response, Mr Ferraro told PinkNews.co.uk: “I consider GLAAD’s campaigns to end the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay scouts, raise national visibility of the violence and inequality facing transgender people, and battling for marriage equality to be among my ‘greatest triumphs.’
“But if a teacher, coach, local radio show host, or parent realizes that anti-LGBT slurs are outdated and unacceptable because of this Baldwin issue, I guess we’ll call it a win. Alec Baldwin’s team has not been open to turning this incident into an opportunity for public education and that’s unfortunate.”
