Alec Baldwin’s Twitter Q&A sessions with his followers have been funny, cordial and at times lurid — but Tuesday they turned a bit nasty thanks to Baldwin’s love of… newspapers.
The "30 Rock" star tweeted on Monday night that everyone should “buy and read a newspaper every day. In print or online, there is information in newspapers you will never get from other media.”
That drew some negative response from his followers, one of whom asked for an example. Baldwin provided the New York Times subscription plans.
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The exchange escalated when one follower not only insulted newspapers but Baldwin’s family.
Psx120 tweeted: “@AlecBaldwin Hey Alec, newspapers are more worthless than your brothers’ career. Get a clue.”
Baldwin responded by calling the person a “festering boil on the buttocks of a free society.”
The user soon recanted the statement and apologized, but the invective directed towards newspapers continued: “Newspapers are failing in their duties to be our free society’s watchdog however. That was my main point,” Psx120 tweeted.
Baldwin encountered another non-believer in @happyub, who tweeted “@Alec Baldwin TOP HEADLINE !!! today another 72,000 acres of prime, beautiful forest was felled today in order that sheep can read the PAPER.”
Baldwin’s response “Then read online, you festering…”
When word spread of the exchanges Tuesday morning, some members of the media stepped in on Baldwin's side — no surprise there.
Aaron Blake, a political blogger at the Washington Post, tweeted: "If Alec Baldwin tells you to buy and read a newspaper every day, who are you to disobey him?"
Eric R. Danton, a music critic for the Hartford Courant, seconded that, retweeting Baldwin's initial comment and adding "DO WHAT HE SAYS."