Alec Baldwin says George Clooney criticism of Rust shooting ‘really didn’t help’

‘If your protocol is you’re checking the gun every time, well, good for you. Good for you’

Alec Baldwin has said that George Clooney’s comments over the fatal shooting on the set of Rust “really didn’t help the situation at all.”

The 63-year-old actor, who allegedly fired the fatal shot that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October, spoke to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday (30 November) in his first interview after the incident took place.

During the interview, when asked by Stephanopoulos about the comments made by Clooney, Baldwin said they were “misplaced” and unhelpful.

“Well, 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,” he said.

“If your protocol is you’re checking the gun every time, well, good for you. Good for you,” he added.

“My protocol was to trust the person that had the job. And it worked up until this point.”

In the interview, Baldwin also denied pulling the trigger of the gun.

The shooting is currently under investigation, with a new search warrant suggesting how live bullets may have ended up on the film’s set.

Clooney had last month strongly criticised the producers of Rust after the incident.

During an interview on WTF with Marc Maron, he laid onto them.

“Why for the life of me this low-budget film, with producers who haven’t produced anything, wouldn’t have hired, for the armourer, someone with experience,” he had said, calling the situation “insane” and “infuriating”.

Clooney also claimed to inspect guns he is handed on set every single time.

“I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it to, we show it to the crew, every single take you hand it back to the armour when you’re done, and you do it again. Everyone does it,” the actor said.

Clooney also addressed the instance when the assistant director of Rust called out “cold gun” on set signifying that the gun was safe to use.

“I’ve never heard of the term ‘cold gun’, they’re just talking about stuff I’ve never heard of. It’s infuriating.”