Alec Baldwin Claims Individuals Filing Lawsuits Against Him For On-Set Shooting, Including Family Of Slain Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Are Going After His Money
Alec Baldwin is facing multiple lawsuits seeking to hold him accountable for the shooting on the set of Rust, which ended with the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
The disgraced actor has recently claimed that individuals filing legal complaints against him, including the family of the slain cinematographer, are after his money.
“What you have is a certain group of people, litigants and whatever, on whatever side, who their attitude is, ‘well the people who likely seem negligent have no money and the people who have money are not negligent,'” the actor said this past Saturday during an event at the Boulder International Film Festival.
He went on, “But we’re not going to let that stop us from doing what we need to do, in terms of litigation. So we have people that are suing people that they think are deep-pockets litigants. Why sue people if they’re not going to get money?”
Baldwin went on to explain that in his career, which spans over 40 years in the film industry, he had never had an incident that put somebody else’s life in harm’s way, claiming that he has always followed safety standards on movie sets.
“When someone, whose job is to ensure the safety of a weapon, hands someone else, whose job is to be the secondary layer of protection for safety of a weapon, and they hand you that weapon, you declare that that weapon is safe,” Baldwin asserted, adding, “That’s how I’ve done it my whole life.”
The actor claimed, “All my career, without incident, I’ve relied on the safety experts there to declare the gun safe and never had a problem, and this happened. And of course, this is to me sometimes it’s so surreal [that] I don’t even know what to say.”
Without an ounce of self-awareness, Baldwin declared, “I was involved in a situation where somebody was killed. It’s changed my life, just in terms of the function of weapons in films and television; the function of safety procedures, which we’re all going to have to address eventually.”
Briefly remembering Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer he shot and killed on the set of Rust, Baldwin said, “This woman was a lovely woman, she was a lovely woman, and she was talented.”
On the 14th of February, Krystina Martinez filed a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin for wrongful-death on behalf of Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, and the couple’s son Andros. Two other separate legal complaints have been filed against the actor since the tragic incident.
The legal document filed by Hutchins’ family alleges that “Defendant Alec Baldwin recklessly shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust,” further noting that the other defendants’ negligence regarding safety rules are also to blame for the death of the cinematographer.
Matthew Hutchins explained that seeing Alec Baldwin address the killing of his wife Halyna publicly, in an interview the actor had with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, was one of the many driving factors that encouraged him to take legal action.
“Watching him I just felt so angry, ” Hutchins told Today Show host Hoda Kotb regarding Baldwin’s now-infamous interview. I had been overcome by this anger when I saw Halyna at the funeral home and it all really crystallised. I was trying to manage that anger and it really came out when I was watching him.”
“I was just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly, in such a detailed way, and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her,” he continued.
When Kotb asked him whether he believed the majority of the blame lays on Baldwin, Hutchins asserted, “The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me,”
He further explained, “Every individual who touches a firearm has a responsibility for gun safety.”
Mamie Mitchell, script supervisor for Rust, had previously filed a legal complaint against Baldwin for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging that the actor “intentionally, without just cause or excuse, cocked and fired the loaded gun even though the upcoming scene to be filmed did not call for the cocking and firing of the firearm.”
“Alec Baldwin should have assumed that the gun in question was loaded unless and until it was demonstrated to him or checked by him that it was not loaded,” the legal document filed by Mitchell further claims.
The first lawsuit to hit the actor came from Rust crew member Serge Svetnoy, who accused Baldwin, assistant director David Halls, and armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, as well as several other members of the production, of negligence on set.
“This incident was caused by negligent acts and omissions of Defendants, and each of them, as well as their agents, principals, and employers,” alleges Svetnoy’s lawsuit filed on the 11th of November, just a few weeks after the incident.
“Simply put,” Svetnoy’s legal complaint adds, “there was no reason for a live bullet to be placed in that .45 Colt revolver to be present anywhere on the Rust set, and the presence of a bullet in a revolver posed a lethal threat to everyone in its vicinity.”
An unrelated $25 million defamation lawsuit against Baldwin was filed by the family of fallen U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, for allegedly insinuating that his sister, Roice, had participated in the Capitol Hill riots of January 6th, 2021.
What do you make of Baldwin’s comments on legal complaints filed against him for the killing of Halyna Hutchins being financially motivated? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below or on social media.
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