Alec Baldwin played the “I have a gay friend card” Friday in the wake of his latest homophobic rant and a dressing down from GLAAD.
After a morning haircut at Lifestyle Salon on Broadway, Baldwin emerged with his gay stylist, Nick Berrios.
“This is my hairdresser, Nick. He’s the best in New York City,” Baldwin said. “Nick, let me ask you a critical question: Do you think I’m a homophobe?”
“Yes,” Berrios jokingly answered, before launching into a defense of the hotheaded former “30 Rock” star.
“He’s always very calm,” Berrios said of Baldwin. “He’s a really nice guy and soft-spoken.” Like Baldwin, he blamed the press for Baldwin’s frequent outbursts and media-bullying.
“I just imagine what it’s like to be followed, especially with everything that’s going on in the public eye,” the hairdresser said. “It’s annoying.”
Baldwin was blasted by gay activist group GLAAD Thursday after he ripped into a Post photographer, calling him a “c—ks–king f-g.”
“Mr. Baldwin can’t lend his support for equality on paper, while degrading gay people in practice. It’s clearly time he listens to the calls from so many
LGBT people and allies to end this pattern of anti-gay slurs,” GLAAD said in a statement.
Baldwin later tweeted that he didn’t know “c—ks—ker” was a gay slur, and apologized for using the term.
He denied using the word “f-g,” saying he said “fathead.”
Earlier this year, Baldwin referred to a Daily Mail reporter as a “toxic little queen” and threatened to “put my foot up your f—king ass, but I’m sure you’d dig it too much.”
After that riff, Baldwin said Baldwin said it “in no way was the result of homophobia.”
Also Friday, police were called to Baldwin’s East 10th Street building after the actor recruited a group of ten rowdy students to clash with the reporters and photographers outside his home in the wake of Thursday’s jail sentence for convicted Baldwin stalker Genevieve Sabourin.
Baldwin used the rambunctious bunch to distract the press while he loaded bags into his Mercedes 350 SUV.
“Leave Alec alone,” the students began yelling, shoving reporters and photographers, while a crowd of onlookers gathered.
When cops arrived, Baldwin called the teens into his lobby, and they later left without incident.
Baldwin now hosts a low-rated show on MSNBC. The network has not responded to requests for comment about his anti-gay slurs.
But rival CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who is gay, isn’t buying Baldwin’s explanation for his rant, tweeting, “Just read Alec Baldwin’s latest excuses. They are actually so ridiculous they are funny.”
Earlier, Cooper tweeted: “Wow, Alec Baldwin shows his true colors yet again. How is he going to lie and excuse his anti-gay slurs this time?”