Yahoo Finance Alec Baldwin quits Twitter again, this time over backlash to Gillian Anderson joke
Alec Baldwin has quit Twitter for the second time this year.
The actor announced he had deactivated his account on Wednesday (3 March) because of people criticising him for a tweet he posted about Gillian Anderson’s American accent.
The tweet in question saw Baldwin reposting a news article about Anderson – who grew up in the US and the UK – using an American accent while accepting her Golden Globe for playing Margaret Thatcher in The Crown.
In his retweet, Baldwin – who recently defended his wife Hilaria regarding her own accent switching between Spanish and American – quipped: “Switching accents? That sounds... fascinating.”
Last month, Hilaria was forced to apologise for not being “more clear” about her cultural background after it was alleged that she had made up her Spanish roots and was in fact born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Baldwin quit Twitter in January over the controversy.
Read more - Hilaria Baldwin apologises after heritage controversy: ‘I should have been more clear’
In Baldwin’s nearly 10-minute Instagram video announcing his latest Twitter exit, the actor said he decided to leave the platform because “haters” were not understanding the “irony” behind his comment about Anderson.
He said: “Of course you can’t do any irony on Twitter, you can’t do irony in the United States anymore because the United States is such an uptight, stressed-out place and such an unpleasant place right now."
Read more - Alec Baldwin quits Twitter after controversy surrounding wife Hilaria’s nationality
Baldwin added that Twitter “is where all the a**holes in the United States and beyond go to get their advanced degrees in a**holiness.”
Earlier this week, the Baldwins welcomed their sixth child, a daughter named Lucia.
