Alec Baldwin’s brother Daniel claimed the actor has been made a scapegoat over the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer because ‘he’s opinionated’ and has ‘really staunch’ political views.
The Domenick Nati’s Monday show featured Daniel. The livestream was available on Instagram. During the show, Daniel, 61, insisted that despite the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins at the elder Baldwin’s ‘hand,’ ‘Alec has no blame in this at all’ because the death is attributed to the failed protocols by others on the set of Rust, a western that Alec, 63, stars in and produces.
Baldwin, the younger said that Alec was being attacked for his political views.
He pointed to the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who allegedly loaded the gun – with live ammunition instead of blanks. Daniel also noted that the weapon was then picked up by the assistant director, Dave Halls, who announced that the revolver was ‘cold,’ signaling to cast and crew that he witnessed and approved that the gun was safe to fire for the scene.
According to police reports, Alec received the weapon from the assistant director after the announcement.
Nati was told by Daniel that Alec is exonerated of any responsibility because of a number of protocols.
Daniel Baldwin (bottom) appeared on The Domenick Nati Show (Nati pictured above) insisting that his brother Alec is being made a scapegoat for the fatal shooting on his movie set for Rust because of his ‘really staunch views’
Alec Baldwin has been named in a lawsuit by the film’s head of lighting Serge Svetnoy, accusing him and other producers of negligence on the Rust set
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on set by Baldwin when a prop gun loaded with live ammunition was cleared for use in a scene
He added: “Alec! This is what he has been through. He loved her. He does what he loves. This terrible accident is something he regrets. He does not bear any responsibility.
Daniel believes that his brother is being attacked for this crime because of his ‘staunch’ political views.
Daniel stated, “You know Alec is the one, but he has the name.” Let’s get Alec for his political views, the amazing things that he does for charities and people as well as his wife. Then let’s find out if it’s possible to sensationalize the situation and pursue Alec.”
He said, “You know this is the reality of his situation because he is opinionated, he is strong-headed and has very firm views about certain topics and people who do not like him will exploit him.”
Alec has been vocal about his opinions, including on gun control. He often uses social media platforms to express his thoughts. Alec mocked former President Donald Trump several times on Saturday Night Live for years. This has prompted backlash from Trump and his supporters.
In 2018, Alec joined the No Rifle Association (NoRA), a celebrity coalition aiming to expose the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) alleged hold on the government. This group encouraged voter registration and organized demonstrations in order to reduce the NRA’s power.
He has also singled out specific gun rights proponents including former NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch. He once tweeted: ‘I see that @DLoesch wants to ‘take back the truth.”
“And she doesn’t care about how many bodies she must cross in pursuit of that goal. Second Amendment does not give you a moral credit that allows you to buy all you want guns. This law must be changed.
After the tragedy was announced, conservatives had the opportunity to respond. This included Candace Owens who called the shooting “poetic justice” and Donald Trump Jr. who started selling pro-gun T-shirts online mocking the fact that guns don’t kill, but Alec Baldwin murders people.
More recently, fellow actor George Clooney spoke out about the horrific tragedy saying that it was ‘insane’ and ‘infuriating’ that live bullets were on the set of the movie, adding that he has never heard the term ‘cold gun’ used to describe a firearm that is safe to use on set.
On Monday Daniel blamed the “pros who handle this stuff.” According to him, Alec is exonerated of responsibility by Hall’s declaration that the weapon was safe for use.
He pointed out that live ammunition shouldn’t have been stored in an armorer’s building. Daniel expressed his belief that the first buck, and all responsibility for the weapon falls on the armorer. However, the assistantdirector is responsible to ensure the second layer.
Noting the ‘two layers of protection that both seem to have screwed the pooch,’ referring to Gutierrez-Reed and Halls. “There are many things that have happened to me that were just mind-boggling, and they break every rule I ever learned.”
“Protocols are established by professionals who handle weapons and ensure the safety of a group,” he said, but he reiterated that these rules were not followed.
Donald Trump Jr. started selling pro-gun shirts on his website mocking Alec Baldwin and the shooting that took place shortly after it broke. The shirt read: ‘Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people’
Daniel insist that armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (left) and assistant director Dave Halls (right) hold responsibility for Hutchins’ death
Baldwin has been named as an actor and producer on Rust. The tragedy has caused filming to be halted.
Clooney recently spoke out about the horrific tragedy saying that it was ‘insane’ and ‘infuriating’ that live bullets were on the set of the movie.
After Baldwin handed the revolver, the assistant director of the movie allegedly used the expression “cold gun” to describe firearms that are safe on sets.
Clooney claimed that the shooting resulted in a “terrible accident”, but Halls was not supposed to be near the prop gun. He also said that he was disbelieving it happened after strict safety precautions were taken following Jon-Erik Hexum’s and Brandon Lee’s deaths.
According to him, every time he gets a gun, he takes it out, points it at the people he wants to point it at, and then fires six shots into the ground. After each scene, he gives it back to his armorer.
Marc Maron interviewed Rust on WTF with Marc Maron. He also said that Rust was guilty of “skimping” on costs. It led to hiring inexperienced armorers, in apparent mockery of Baldwin, who was producer for the film.
Baldwin, who is accused of being involved in the horrible incident, has been sued by Serge Svetnoy (head of lighting), accusing him negligence.
Hutchins died in October after being shot on set of Baldwin’s Western movie, Rust. Joel Souza, director of the film, was also hurt in this incident.
It was later revealed that the gun loaded by Gutierrez-Reed contained live-ammunition instead of blank rounds. According to the allegations, Gutierrez-Reed was a 24-year old armorer who was deemed ‘careless and inexperienced’ as the main armorer.
Baldwin and Hutchins (circled), are shown together on Rust. She uploaded an Instagram image two days earlier that showed them supporting the strike by IATSE.
The crew of Rust had reportedly been experiencing many problems, which caused several of them to walk off the set before the tragic tragedy.
After the death shooting, the vehicle of the Office of the Medical Investigator enters the Bonanza Creek Ranch front gate.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed, 24 years old, was a source that worked with her on a previous set of film. She said that she is known for being reckless around guns.
According to The Daily Beast, ‘She was quite careless when it came to guns and would wave them around every so often,’ the source said. “A couple of times, she loaded blanks and did it in an unsafe manner,” a source said.
GutierrezReed was also accused by another source of having loaded a gun on the ground, and then handed it to Ryan Kiera Armstrong (11 years old), without any inspection.
“She was loading the gun onto the ground where there were rocks and other things. “We didn’t see her inspect it. We weren’t sure if anything got in the barrel,” a source close to her for The Old Way said.
One person noted that Gutierrez-Reed double-checked the barrel to make sure it was clear before filming began.
In a previous podcast interview Gutierrez-Reed admitted she found loading blanks into a gun ‘the scariest’ thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.
This was not the first incident in which the Rust set has had problems with their weapons.
Deadline quoted an unnamed source as saying that a gun went off “in a cabin” while it was being held by someone, just days before the killing of Hutchins.
“A gun misfired twice in closed quarters.” They just fired loud pops – a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,’ they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.
After the movie was set up with many difficulties, several of its crew members had to leave the scene hours before the shooting began.