Maher Defends Alec Baldwin on Shooting Charges

During his “Overtime” segment on YouTube, Real Time host Bill Maher came to the defense of actor/activist/anger management failure Alec Baldwin, who Maher believes should not be facing jail time for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Earlier this month, Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter for the 2021 accidental shooting of Hutchins on the set of his film Rust, which he was starring in and producing.

Maher said, “I mean, I don’t know Alec Baldwin very well at all. He used to do this show, he stopped doing it years ago, I’m just setting this up like I have no personal, I’m not for him or against him. I like him as an actor, I don’t really know him. But unless you think Alec Baldwin purposefully shot this cinematographer, what the f— are we talking about?

“It’s a horrible tragedy, there may be someone to blame whoever’s job it was to have that gun there, but I don’t think it’s the actor’s job,” Maher added.

The Free Press editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pointed out that Baldwin wasn’t only the actor but also a producer of the film, which Maher quickly dismissed.

“It’s not the producer’s job either to check the guns!” Maher exclaimed. “I mean, you have to be able to delegate some things in life, no?”

“But the only thing that — he said that he didn’t pull the trigger. And the gun can’t go — I mean, I don’t know enough about this case, but he said he couldn’t pull the trigger but how does a gun go off without pulling the trigger?” Weiss asked. “That’s the one thing that I was like, ‘That’s a little odd.'”

After a chuckle, Maher replied, “He did say that, didn’t he? I don’t know, I don’t know. He’s an actor. I mean, I just… judge them on a different curve.”