Carly Newton
It is easy to forget that celebrities are human — the public puts them on a pedestal, and for some reason, they are shocked when that pedestal inevitably comes crashing down.
This was the case for well-known actor Alec Baldwin Oct. 21.
Baldwin was rehearsing a scene with a prop-firearm for the movie “Rust,” when he shot and killed director of photography, Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
According to the New York Times, Baldwin and the crew were told the gun was cold, which meant it didn’t have any live ammunition in it. Evidently, the gun did have a live round inside and Baldwin unknowingly shot a loaded weapon.
After the situation was made public, Baldwin released a statement on his Twitter account.
“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” Baldwin tweeted. “My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”
What Baldwin is going through is incredibly sad, and it has unfortunately highlighted a larger problem in our country — the lack of gun safety.
The “Rust” shooting could have been prevented had crew members been routinely checking the prop-firearm to ensure it was safe for Baldwin to use.
It’s also confusing why a real gun would have to be used on a production set. It is surprising that more situations like this haven’t happened when the actors are more than likely inexperienced gun handlers.
The only good that may come out of this situation is that potential future tragedies could be prevented.
The investigation into the “Rust” shooting is ongoing, but all of the reports since have indicated Baldwin’s innocence in the situation. Yet, he is being ridiculed and mocked by public figures who want to see him suffer from this tragedy.
One of those public figures has been Donald Trump Jr., who began selling t-shirts on his website with “Guns don’t kill people Alec Baldwin kills people,” written on them.
Trump Jr. has not liked Baldwin since he portrayed his father on Saturday Night Live. He is obviously taking advantage of this heartbreaking situation by mocking him publicly and kicking him while he is down.
Not only is this insensitive, but it shows the lack of compassion he has for Halyna Hutchins and her family. Selling these shirts not only continues to remind the family of the tragedy, but Trump Jr. has made a profit off of it.
The shirts have since been removed from his website after receiving backlash, but it’ll be hard to forget what he did.
Candace Owens, a conservative pundit, was also another person celebrating this terrible situation happening to Baldwin. She took to Twitter to politicize what happened, instead of showing compassion.
“Alec Baldwin spent 4 years dedicated to painting Donald Trump and his supporters as evil murderers. What has happened to Alec would be an example of poetic justice if it weren’t for the actual innocent people that were murdered by him. Pray for their families. So sad,” Owens tweeted.
People like this don’t realize the impact of their words, and they should really learn to think before they speak — having compassion goes a long way.
Hopefully everyone affected by the horrid shooting finds a way to heal and move on.
