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Alec Baldwin's comments:
- He's got a point
- Ridiculous
- Unsure
The 66-year-old New York native is facing backlash after suggesting that US citizens are ignorant about important world events and that watching films is the remedy to bridge the information gap.
“Americans are very uninformed about reality, what’s really going on – with climate change, Ukraine, Israel, you name it, all the biggest topics in the world. Americans have an appetite for a little bit of information,” the Beetlejuice star told reporters at a film festival in Italy this month.
Baldwin went on to say that the news media is partly responsible for what he described as a “vacuum” in information.
“I think the only way people can learn what is happening, and film is unique in this way, not only what’s happening in the United States, but around the world, what’s happening – you might not learn from the news, television news in the United States,” he said.
Baldwin touted the film industry, both documentaries and narrative formats, as being critical to shining a light on less reported stories.
“Where the filmmakers and the buyers, the studios and the networks and the streamers are willing to go that way, and they’re willing to try to make films that are not only entertaining but informative as well,” he said.
“Now is probably one of the most important times in our history for us to make films that will teach people about what reality is around the world.”
Not surprisingly, the comments sparked plenty of responses on social media.
"You're an actor. You don't know (expletive) about reality," one X user quipped.
"Not a fan but he's got a point," another wrote.
A native New Yorker, Baldwin was born on Long Island in Amityville, raised in Massapequa, and most recently resided in the Hamptons, in Amagansett.
Watch a clip of Baldwin’s comments below.
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