Actor Alec Baldwin has threatened to leave New York after being hounded by the media and being fired from his MSNBC show over his hate-filled rants.
In an interview with
New York magazine, the 55-year-old actor says he's considering a move to the safety of the gated communities in Los Angeles with his wife, Hilaria, 30, and his baby, Carmen.
"I probably have to move out of New York. I just can't live in New York anymore," he said. "Everything I hated about L.A. I'm beginning to crave. L.A. is a place where you live behind a gate, you get in a car, your interaction with the public is minimal. I used to hate that.
"But New York has changed. Manhattan is like Beverly Hills. And the soul of New York has moved to Brooklyn, where everything new and exciting seems to be. I have to accept that. I want my newest child to have as normal and decent a life as I can provide. New York doesn't seem the place for that anymore."
The actor was vilified in the media after calling a reporter a "toxic little queen" and making a homophobic slur against a photographer outside his New York apartment.
But Baldwin, who denied using the word "fag" in his blind rage, defended himself in the cover story, saying, "Look, I work in show business. I am awash in gay people, as colleagues and as friends.
"I'm doing "Rock of Ages" one day, making out with Russell Brand. I'm advocating with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Cynthia Nixon for marriage equality. I'm officiating at a gay friend's wedding. I'm not a homophobic person at all. But this is how the world now see me.
"Am I bitter about some of the things that have happened to me in the past year? Yes, I'm a human being."
Baldwin, who admitted that he had been considering running for political office in New York as a progressive, also blasted MSNBC for firing him from his short-lived liberal talk show "Up Late."
"If MSNBC went off the air tomorrow, what difference would it make?" he said, while claiming that the network gave him the "Conan O'Brien treatment," referring to the former "Tonight" host who was dumped by NBC when it brought back Jay Leno.
"The problem with everybody on MSNBC is none of them are funny, although that doesn't prevent them from trying to be."
Baldwin also lashed out at MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who he says was accused of being the "prime mover" in getting him fired. "I think she's a phony who doesn't have the same passion for the truth off-camera that she seems to have on the air," he said.
The actor said that MSNBC'S "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough is "boring," and added, "Scarborough is neither eloquent nor funny. And merely cranky doesn't always work well in the morning."
He also criticized CNN's Anderson Cooper, saying he's the "the self-appointed Jack Valenti of gay media culture," referring to the late president of the Motion Picture Association of America who created the film-ratings system.
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