Alec Baldwin's phone meltdown

[LG.]

I know he's on a tv show now, but he's also done movies, and his ex-wife has done movies, I dunno what forum to put this in. MSN video Everyone is talking about this audio of the message he left on his daughter's cell phone. Maybe this topic belongs in Current Events because it is just more of his custody war with Kim.

[Google]

 

[Veruka]

I want to know how the tape was released to the public. I'm guessing it was Kim's legal camp, but to my knowledge, we don't know that for sure. I think that Alec Baldwin's behavior is absolutely inexcusable, and he should be beyond ashamed for it. That said, if it was anyone associated with Kim Bassinger who released it to the public, then I find her actions equally as inexcusable and shameful. I hate that too many parents lose sight of the fact that NOTHING in their lives matters more than their kids well being. That kind of behavior (both the yelling and the public airing of dirty laundry) is beyond selfish and unparentlike. Poor Ireland.

[Krom]

For those who don't use fine Microsoft technology (MSN videos require it) this stuff is also up on YouTube now too. Its an easy search.

Or for the A/V impaired, someone on Wikipedia typed this all out... I'll cut and paste from there...

Alec Baldwin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the recording, Baldwin can be heard berating his young daughter, "You are a rude, thoughtless little pig." "You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being," he says, apparently upset that she did not answer her phone for a planned call. He further says, "I don't give a damn that you're 12 years old, or 11 years old, or that you're a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do as far as I'm concerned. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone." "I made an ass out of myself trying to make this call. You have insulted me for the last time. You've made me feel like a fool over and over and over again. I'm gonna straighten your ass out when I see you, do you understand me?"

How many people could it be who "released" this? Baldwin wouldn't have released it himself, even if he'd somehow recorded it. The daughter obviously turned it over to Mommy, who turned it over the her lawyers, who leaked it to the world. Giving it to a judge is one thing, but unless someone in the court system leaked this (in fact there was apparently a court gag order on the whole thing), it was the lawyers, and its a real reach to think they did it without Bassinger's consent. Someone gave it to TMZ.com--they didn't just produce it from thin air.

Listening to it... there are parts which are bad, but to be honest I've heard FAR worse. Its easy logic that nobody should speak to a child--especially their own child--in this fashion. But to be completely fair all we are hearing is this tape. We have no idea what led up to it. And given that TODAY is the date he mentions next seeing her, but this was released first, we have absolutely no idea what he may have actually done the next time he saw her if it hadn't come out. For all we know, he might have been contrite and apologetic instead of following through with the implied threat which seems to be on that message.

The most likely logic for the girl not answering the cell phone is simply her being inside a building without reception. My cell phone is like that with certain locations I repeatedly visit. And Alec is probably too much of a meathead to take that into consideration. But we don't know if the kid regularly backtalks her father, or if Mommy is constantly poisoning the well, or any of the other details (although its long been hinted that Mommy does in fact do that).

Releasing this to the world is probably scummier than saying it in the first place. I am sure of that. If Alec is frequently like this to his daughter, and there hasn't been fairly massive provocation, then he's a pig, an unfit father, a loser, and even worse a criminal if this kind of talk is followed up by use of a fist or something similar. But I doubt that last, and if this was just a one time freakout... its not like even the best of us haven't lost perspective almost this badly before. He'd still be a jackass, but giving this kind of look into someone's private business is just plain wrong. And yet here we are, even me, commenting on it. It's out there. There's no taking it back. But the act of MAKING it public... how did that serve anyone?

Maybe this girl needs to go to a grandparent. Then again, the whole Baldwin family seems to be a few bricks short... so maybe not on that side.

As hard as it seems, I want to give Baldwin some small wiggle room here, because I can actually envision a scenario where if he's had to put up with years of manipulative behavior from Kim, and she's been pushing the daughter in that direction... well I could see him "losing it" without being a total monster. My recollection of this whole sordid affair is that its usually been Kim's camp who have tried to take parts of the divorce and custody situation public, and if that's not manipulative and scummy I don't know what is. The only rationale behind a public reveal would seem to be revenge--to ruin Alec's career. If it was just some case of protecting the child, then the courts and social services are a bit better equipped to do so than TMZ.com, Star Magazine, and their ilk.

Yes, the triggering event of this rant--the cell phone going unanswered--seems horribly petty and unworthy of this kind of rant, and that's why I said above that Alec would still be a jackass no matter what, but that's different from him holding all, or even most, of the blame in this mess in its entirety. How its all apportioned is totally unknowable from here in the Peanut gallery.

[Rattus]

In short, I tend to agree with Krom on this. There are plenty of otherwise decent parents to have temporarily lost it with a kid, particularly as they're heading into their teen years. Some of the language was more uncalled for than usual, but we don't know that this is the norm in their relationship. And I feel that the release of this tape to the media is a much more calculated and thereby egregious act than a reactionary flipping out.

[PhoneGrrrl]

Maybe Ireland should go live with Larry Birkhead. Baldwin's rant was pretty damn vile, but at least it wasn't made publicly (like on the street, which I'm sure we've all seen someone do in our lifetimes) and embarrassed the girl on a national stage. The release of the audio tape will humiliate and embarrass the daughter far more than just the call alone. AND it violates a court order, which can potentially land someone in jail for contempt. The high road would have been to take the recording to the court in an effort to augment the custody arrangements.

[Broadway]

Originally Posted by Krom

As hard as it seems, I want to give Baldwin some small wiggle room here, because I can actually envision a scenario where if he's had to put up with years of manipulative behavior from Kim, and she's been pushing the daughter in that direction... well I could see him "losing it" without being a total monster.

I have to disagree. Baldwin's camp is making all kinds of excuses to tmz.com and the press about "you just don't understand what I've been put through by Kim over the last several years."

Cry me a river, you jerk. So call Kim and lose your temper... you do NOT lose your temper to an 11 year old daughter that has been put through an even worse situation and call her a "rude pig", among other things. That is never, ever, EVER acceptable in my book.

Yes, whoever leaked the tape should be prosecuted as it's a violation of their agreement. But it does not excuse the name calling to an innocent 11 year old child.

[Krom]

Originally Posted by Broadway

I have to disagree. Baldwin's camp is making all kinds of excuses to tmz.com and the press about "you just don't understand what I've been put through by Kim over the last several years."

Cry me a river, you jerk. So call Kim and lose your temper... you do NOT lose your temper to an 11 year old daughter that has been put through an even worse situation and call her a "rude pig", among other things. That is never, ever, EVER acceptable in my book.

The deeper question is not whether or not its acceptable. Its clearly not.

But where does this leave things in terms of the daughter?

There's little doubt that Kim has always been willing--even eager--to air most of her dirty laundry publicly. I think its been a constant theme in the coverage of this ugly split over the past few years. That's fine--perhaps not even immoral--if its just you versus your opponent in a conflict. But clearly there's another party involved here. The kid.

Is ranting in anger at a kid in a private situation better than engineering a situation where every single person she meets for the rest of her life will have reason to feel pity or scorn for her? This isn't just about the illegality of violating a court order, its also about leaving the trash out in a way which couldn't possibly be good for that kid going forward.

And this isn't necessarily an either/or. This is one of those times where its increasingly clear to even the most naive person that some conflicts just have no good guy (discounting a potentially innocent third party, like the kid). Who's wrong Don Imus or Al Sharpton? How about both? Who's scummier, Howard K. Stern, Virgie Arthur or Larry Birkhead? How about all three stink. This latest situation is more of the same. Its time that the public, as a whole, grows up a bit, in my opinion, and starts seeing the world as it really is. Sometimes we can't fulfill our apparent inbuilt tendency to want heroes and villains, wrong and right, good and evil. Sometimes its just a cluster#^!% which illustrates nothing but ugliness. That's why even while I'm open to the concept that Baldwin MIGHT have been provoked in ways we haven't seen, I'm pretty sure he's an ass, even still. At best he's not the WORST ass in all of this, but he still is one.

[Veruka]

Originally Posted by Krom

And this isn't necessarily an either/or.

EXACTLY! I agree with you that Kim Bassinger has been guilty in the past of airing dirty laundry in public. As I recall, Alec Baldwin has been guilty of the same (Wouldn't he be the source of the reports of the candy bars Kim used to give Ireland with messages about loving her mommy?) Both of them are so consumed in themselves, and their battle with each other that both appear to have lost complete touch with what being a parent is all about.

[Krom]

Originally Posted by Veruka

EXACTLY! I agree with you that Kim Bassinger has been guilty in the past of airing dirty laundry in public. As I recall, Alec Baldwin has been guilty of the same (Wouldn't he be the source of the reports of the candy bars Kim used to give Ireland with messages about loving her mommy?) Both of them are so consumed in themselves, and their battle with each other that both appear to have lost complete touch with what being a parent is all about.

Perhaps this opens up a bigger debate about how completely useless Child Protection departments are in the face of the rich and powerful, that two people like this could go unchallenged, while a lot of poorer folks get constantly monitored for far less.

Sure, there's no indication of physical abuse that's been reported, but this kid has certainly been mentally and emotionally abused from all sides.

Even worst case, if Alec was somehow completely right and justified in his accusations in that insane phone call, it would be because of how the girl was brought up. And that would be his fault, and his dopey ex-wife's. The girl would still be the victim, even if too much time had passed and trauma already occurred and the kid was now a willing participant in the head games. No matter what, we all know she didn't start out doing that in her diapers.

[Maveno]

Poor kid.

There's no excuse to abuse your child. Even if it was in a moment of 'blind rage/anger'. There's no "oops, didn't mean to hurt your feelings honey..sorry".

I'm sure the daughter knew mom was going to go public with it, she probably encouraged her mom to do it...she's afraid & damaged. Always makes me cringe to see and hear how parents treat the little bundles of joy that they're so damn proud of rearing.


In the end of the audio, he's threatening/promising Ireland about coming to see her on Friday the 20th (TODAY) and how he's going to REALLY make sure she learns what he means.. etc.
I don't find it ironic that the tape was released today, it was for her own protection. Good.