Alex Carson
Alec Baldwin, we can all agree, is a talented actor. The nearly 63-year-old actor has won more Screen Actors Guild Awards than any other male performer. In addition, three Golden Globes and Primetime Emmys, and a Tony Award. Besides all that, countless nominations.
But the life of an A-list celebrity isn’t just work and awards. It comes with unwanted attention, invasion of privacy, and paparazzi among others.
Unfortunately, Alec Baldwin’s temper has put him in some absurd situations, including lawsuits. We’re going to cover how he’s gotten to where he is now, with an ongoing trial from 2018 and various arrests.
One thing is sure, this latest lawsuit hasn’t been his only brush with the law. The famous actor and comedian doesn’t seem to be slowing down either. Instead, the latter half of the 2010s saw his legal troubles multiply!
Keep watching to get caught up.
October 1995: Baldwin Struggles With Fame
What should have been a happy event ended in a physical struggle between the actor and photographer Alan Zanger.
Alec Baldwin was married at the time to Kim Basinger and was bringing his wife and newborn girl, Ireland, back from the hospital for the first time.
Baldwin was upset that Alan Zanger was camped out taking pictures and videos and decided to do something more than tell him to go away. He approached the car where Zanger was shooting from and sprayed shaving cream over all of the car’s windows.
Zanger claimed that Baldwin broke his nose with a punch to the face, but the actor claimed to only slap the camera away.
Baldwin was acquitted of misdemeanor battery, and even won an invasion of privacy suit, but had to pay $4500 in damages from a civil case brought by Zanger.
The claim in the media at the time was that Baldwin seriously injured Zanger. However, his publicist disputed anything of the sort.
December 2011: Words With Airlines
In 2011 Baldwin was taking a flight with American Airlines and got into a disagreement with a flight attendant. He claimed that other passengers were on their phones after the doors closed, before taxiing to the runway.
American airlines posted on their Facebook account that “the passenger” (Baldwin) was extremely rude to cabin crew members. After using offensive language and inappropriate names, they decided to remove him.
Baldwin later apologized for delaying the other passengers, but he also went on Saturday Night Live as the pilot of his flight. Mocking American Airlines, he apologized to “Alec Baldwin” as the pilot.
Baldwin isn’t the only one to roast the situation, as even the Words With Friends co-creators had some fun with it in a 2012 Super Bowl commercial brought by Best Buy. The creators are playing the game when a flight attendant disrupts their game to signal it’s time to put away electronic devices, including phones.
Another commercial from Capital One involved Baldwin telling a Viking it wasn’t supposed to be used on a runway.
June 2012: Not The Best Start to a Marriage
On June 19, 2012, after leaving the Manhattan Marriage License Bureau with new wife Hilaria in tow, a paparazzi photographer named Marcus Santos got more than he bargained for.
Santos claims he was punched and shoved, but Alec refuted it in PEOPLE magazine. His version says that someone tried to block shots of photographers purposely when Marcus aggressively pushed forward.
This is where Baldwin says he was assaulted by the camera. Any subsequent physical contact was just Baldwin “protecting himself”, without any punches thrown. Later, Baldwin even suggested that paparazzi, like Marcus, should be waterboarded.
Shortly thereafter, in fact, only ten days later, Baldwin grabbed a photographer’s arm, telling her to “shut the eff up”. This was captured on video by TMZ.
He claimed in tweets that reporters were stalking him constantly and following him in their car to disturb and harass him.
“If only a meteor would hit that car,” he later added.
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2013: Pressing Attention
2013 ended up being a busy year for Baldwin. In August yet another photographer was trailing Baldwin and wife, Hilaria. You’d think they would get the idea by now that it’s dangerous to be nearby.
In front of quite a few witnesses Alec Baldwin pinned the ma against a car. After police responded both parties walked away from the scene without pressing charges.
Later in November even more photographers kept following the Hollywood star. He used a homophobic slur on one of them, frustrated by the event. He later went to Twitter to apologize and concede that he used a highly offensive slur.
He promised to retire the phrase from his vocabulary and apologized willingly.
The price for this indiscretion was the cancellation of his MSNBC interview show, “Up Late.” The show only had five episodes, with famous and influential figures like Chris Mattews and former mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio.
The show had good critical acclaim as the guests discussed events they’re part of in a set fashioned after a corner booth in a diner. Even though it was going well, the show couldn’t hold up in the face of such bad publicity and MSNBC pulled the plug.
May 2014: Wrongside Business
At 10:15 AM on May 13, Baldwin was arrested in Manhattan. He was riding his bike the wrong way down Fifth Avenue when the NYPD stopped him and asked for ID. Baldwin refused and was arrested.
An NYPD spokesperson said Baldwin was belligerent and started arguing with the officers on the scene. He was given two summons, for disorderly conduct and for biking the wrong way on a one way.
Later Baldwin went to Twitter to tell his side, that the arrest with Officer Moreno is just a manifestation of a systemic problem with New York City. He said that once again photographers terrified his daughter while the police do nothing about that.
He raged that New York City is a “mismanaged carnival of stupidity.” He also claimed that it was desperate for revenue and so it would criminalize benign behavior to pay for itself.
The charges were dropped under conditional sentencing.
No doubt, this contributed to his backing down from trying to be mayor of New York City. He famously said he could do a better job at being NYC’s mayor than Arnold Schwarzenegger was at being Governor of California.
Since he never campaigned, I guess we’ll never know what he had in store.
November 2018: Free Parking?
The next four years were pretty quiet for Alec Baldwin until 1:30 PM on November 2nd, 2018.
He’s alleged to have punched a Polish immigrant, Wojciech (Woychek) Cieszkowski (SeeCH Kow Skee) over a parking spot dispute. Baldwin, of course, denies that he has ever punched anyone for a parking spot.
Baldwin admitted to pushing the man, saying he stole Baldwin’s spot.
He again went to Twitter to go on the record saying that it’s become a sport for people to defame and charge people with all kinds of allegations for clickbait. He also said that no matter how often people echo something false, it doesn’t make it true.
Alec Baldwin filed defamation claims against the man and a judge ruled that it can go forward to trial, despite the man’s attempts to block it. The NYPD confirmed that they charged Baldwin with assault and harassment.
The man he is alleged to have struck went to Lennox Hill Hospital.
The judge in the case said that the bar of proof wasn’t high enough on the motion to dismiss Baldwin’s filing.
The Polish man sued Baldwin first in April 2019 for assault and slander. On the Ellen DeGeneres show and in an interview with Howard Stern he asserted that Baldwin lied and said he was going to run Hilaria, Baldwin’s wife, over with his car.
The judge dismissed the slander claim against Baldwin, though.
It was then that Baldwin filed his own claim against the Polish immigrant. Not just for the “lies he spread” to hospital staff and police, but also his “false imprisonment.” Since it wasn’t Cieszkowski that imprisoned Baldwin, but the police, that particular charge was dismissed.
In January 2019, Baldwin plead guilty to harassment over the situation. He paid a $120 fine and was sentenced to anger management classes.
The video captured of the tiff was unclear and both parties say it supports their claim. Either way, both lawyers for the cases were happy with the mixed ruling.
The next steps for the case appear to be a discovery of Alec Baldwin’s reputation and character. He’s probably hoping they don’t interview photographers.
The moral of the story is that Alec Baldwin may be right that paparazzi are invasive and scare the family and children of stars. People may try to take advantage of his international acclaim to get some fame of their own or monetary compensation for a contrived situation. But does that really mean that he has a right to let his temper flare?
So far Alec Baldwin was imprisoned over a parking spot and subsequently given a tort lawsuit. Baldwin then countersued for defamation and both parties have had a win. It almost doesn’t seem like it matters who “wins,” since both are losing while it continues.
With Alec Baldwin’s history of trouble with the NYPD, photographers, and love-hate relationship with Twitter, it might be best if he just takes a moment to breathe.
What do you think? Has Alec Baldwin been right all along, or does he deserve to finally take his licks in court? Comment below to let us know.
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