CNN's Reliable Sources on Sunday discussed Alec Baldwin supposedly getting his own show on MSNBC.
For some reason, guest host Brian Stelter of the New York Times as well as his panelists chose not to mention Baldwin's recent homophobic rant despite it occurring just six weeks ago (video follows with transcript and commentary):
BRIAN STELTER, GUEST HOST: One more NBC story this week, Alec Baldwin in talks for a show on MSNBC. This is not a joke. I think it may be announced as early as this week. Will you all be watching an Alec Baldwin talk show?
PAUL FARHI, THE WASHINGTON POST: I'd watch that. I think he's an interesting personality. Look, the cable networks do not have hosts who are from a news background necessarily. Why not Alec Baldwin? He's a guy who mixes it up. It could be exciting and energetic.
Why not Alec Baldwin? Well, how about this?
Those were tweets Baldwin made on June 27 directed at a British reporter.
So offended was CNN's Anderson Cooper that he tweeted the following day:
Why does #AlecBaldwin get a pass when he uses gay slurs? If a conservative talked of beating up a "queen" they would be vilified.
— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) June 28, 2013
Yes they would, Anderson. So explain why roughly six weeks later when talk of Baldwin getting his own MSNBC show surfaced on your network no one chose to mention his homophobic rant?
JANE HALL, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: I think it could be good. I've interviewed him. He's very interested in politics. How he would be on a regular show -- you have to book people, you have to be a host, how the rest of the lineup feels about this, I'd be curious to know how some of the other hosts feel about him. He certainly would get a lot of tune-in in the beginning.
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: He's got a great podcast. So if it's anything like the podcast he does online, it could be great.
So, roughly six weeks after Baldwin went on a homophobic rant and Cooper asked why he got a pass for doing so, a CNN guest host said "it could be great" if Baldwin gets his own show.
Consider that the Food Network's Paula Deen lost her show and all of her sponsors for admitting that growing up in the south many years ago she used to use the N-word.
Yet Alec Baldwin goes on a public homophobic rant in 2013 and six weeks later is apparently rewarded by getting his own television show.
It sure is an odd world we live in, isn't it?
