Alec Baldwin Tells Chris Cuomo He Did Not Pull Trigger On ‘Rust’ Set, Questions Who Put Live Round In Gun
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Alec Baldwin is speaking out about the deadly shooting on the set of his film Rust. In an interview with incoming NewsNation host Chris Cuomo on his podcast The Chris Cuomo Project, Baldwin again insisted, as he has before, that he did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin reiterated that the faulty gun fired on its own, and that “the only question here is who put a live round in the gun.”
Last week, the FBI forensic report concluded that the gun used in the accident could not have been fired without pulling the trigger. Prosecutors have not yet made a decision about any charges.
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Baldwin explained the concept of “fanning a gun” to Cuomo, which may have contributed to the deadly shooting.
“In old Western movies, you would see someone fan the hammer of the gun,” Baldwin said.
If the hammer didn’t lock, and someone pulled it back far enough, it would fire the bullet without someone having to pull the trigger, Baldwin explained.
“The man who is the principal safety officer of the set of the film declared the gun was safe when he handed it to me,” Baldwin said. “The man who was the principal safety officer of the film declared in front of the entire assemblage, ‘This is a cold gun.’ Now, why did he say that if he didn’t know and hadn’t checked? The point is we were told everything was cool and you can relax and we are working with a gun that is safe to rehearse with.”
“What is likely is that someone who was responsible for one situation or one line of responsibility and the other person — a tandem of the two people — one of them or both were negligent,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin’s attorney said in April that the OSHA investigation “exonerates” Baldwin. It concluded that Rust Movie Productions LLC’s management “knew that firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and demonstrated plain indifference to employee safety by failing to review work practices and take corrective action” when the fatal incident occurred.
Baldwin told Cuomo, that while he is frustrated by the situation, he is not the victim here, Hutchins is.
“Nothing is going to bring this woman back. She’s dead. She has a little boy,” Baldwin said. “This is the real tragedy. Everything we’ve said doesn’t matter – me, the press. My point is, the real tragedy is here is what happened to this woman.”
You can watch the complete interview below.
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