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Alec Baldwin snaps at George Clooney for gun safety comments, gets slammed: 'Narcissistic jerk'

'There were a lot of people who felt it necessary to contribute some comment... which really didn't help the situation at all,' Alec Baldwin said

Alec Baldwin has snapped back at George Clooney's response to the fatal shooting on the set of movie 'Rust' on October 21, which left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead, and director Joel Souza wounded. 

The incident at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico took place after a prop gun that Baldwin believed was "cold," meaning empty of any live rounds, was fired by the actor. The gun, however, had real bullets in it. In the wake of the tragedy and the controversy surrounding the use of real firearms on movie sets, the 63-year-old star spoke out against Clooney's comments, saying his thoughts on the matter were "unhelpful". 

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'I had a protocol and it never let me down'

During his first sit-down interview about the incident, speaking to ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos, Baldwin was asked: "How do you respond to actors like George Clooney who say every time they were handed a gun they checked it themselves?" Alec bluntly replied: "There were a lot of people who felt it necessary to contribute some comment to the situation, which really didn't help the situation at all. If your protocol is you check the gun every time - well good for you, good for you. I've probably handled weapons as much as any other actor in films, with an average career, again shooting or being shot by someone. In that time, I had a protocol and it never let me down."

Clooney, 60, told Marc Maron's WTF podcast after hearing about the tragedy that the death was "infuriating" and "insane". "Maybe they weren’t even using that gun to do target practice, but they had live ammo with dummies... all this s*** we’ve been seeing with all the Alec Baldwin stuff. And that is insane. It’s insane. It’s infuriating." He added that he has "been on sets for 40 years,” did not come across some of the safety measures that Baldwin claimed were being used on 'Rust.'

The actor continued: “First of all, I’ve never heard the term 'cold gun. I’ve never heard that term. Literally, they’re just talking about stuff I’ve never heard of. It’s just infuriating. Every single time I’m handed a gun on a set - every time - they hand me a gun, I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it to, we show it to the crew. Everyone does it. Everybody knows. Maybe Alec did that, hopefully he did do that."

'Alec Baldwin is such a douchebag snapping back at George Clooney'

People took Clooney's side after watching the interview, as they called out Baldwin for being irresponsible. "Someone make sure George gets his fucking gold star for being so fucking exceptional," one of them said, while another noted, "Actors who use guns in films are bad role models." A third noted, "Alec Baldwin is such a douchebag snapping back at George Clooney for proper gun safety." The next remarked, "That is an excuse, @AlecBaldwin. Gun safety 101 says that anyone who handles a gun checks to make sure it is not loaded.

A commenter tweeted, "See Alec, most of us understand we are responsible for every action we make, even when we're playing make-believe." A person reacted with, "Therein lies the difference between #GeorgeClooney, a man of class and dignity and #AlecBaldwin, a narcissistic jerk who killed this poor woman and takes no responsibility. He is a producer and also fired the weapon, as such he has a level of responsibility. #ClooneyVsBaldwin."