Culture

Gary Oldman defends Alec Baldwin following anti-gay controversy

Jun 24 2014
Written by Joseph McCormick

Actor Gary Oldman has come to the defence of Alec Baldwin who was heavily criticised for comments including calling a journalist a “cocksucking fag”.

Former 30 Rock star Baldwin was approached by paparazzi last year where he was caught on camera calling one photographer a “cocksucking fag.” Despite that he denied making the comments, MSNBC then suspended his show.

Now in an interview with Playboy, Oldman commented on the controversy, suggesting people need to learn how to take a joke.

He criticised the “political correctness” which he says caught out Baldwin, also coming to the defence of Mel Gibson who was filed making anti-Semitic comments in 2006, before later apologising.

The Associated Press reports that Oldman urged the interviewer to “edit and cut half of what I’ve said, because it’s going to make me sound like a bigot,” saying “I’m defending all the wrong people. I’m saying Mel’s all right, Alec’s a good guy.”

Oldman said Gibson “got drunk and said a few things, but we’ve all said those things.”

In June, Baldwin apologised for calling a Daily Mail writer a “toxic little queen”:

Douglas Urbanski, Oldman’s manager on Tuesday made a statement to clarify, saying that the actor does not approve of bigotry.

“In this interview Gary is doing what many intelligent people do,” he said. “He is illustrating the absurd by being absurd.”