Alec Baldwin shared a cryptic tweet about Buddhism on the same day Halyna Hutchins’ widower blasted the actor for ‘sounding like he was the victim’ of the fatal Rust set shooting.
On Thursday, Matt Hutchins took aim at Alec Baldwin, 63, during an interview with TODAY, claiming that the actor shifted blame for the tragic October on-set shooting that killed his wife Halyna, making himself sound like a victim, despite having been the one to pull the trigger.
‘He said essentially he felt grief but no guilt. Almost sounds like he was the victim,’ Hutchins said.
‘And hearing him blame Halyna in the interview and shift responsibility to others and seeing him cry about it, I just feel like – are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?’
Hours after the interview aired, Baldwin tweeted out a quote regarding being truthful in the Buddhist religion.
‘In Buddhism being truthful goes beyond simply not telling lies,’ he wrote.
‘It means speaking truthfully and honestly, yes. But it also means using speech to benefit others, not to use it to benefit only ourselves.’
Hours after the interview aired, Baldwin seemingly responded to Hutchins, tweeting out a quote regarding being truthful in the Buddhist religion
Alec Baldwin is seen returning to his New York apartment on Thursday, Feb. 24, after Hutchins’ interview had aired on the TODAY Show
Halyna Hutchins’ widower, Matt Hutchins, a Harvard-educated lawyer, told TODAY he felt that the majority of the blame for his wife’s death lay with Baldwin
On October 21, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, (pictured) was shot and killed on the set of the western Rust
On October 21, 42-year-old Hutchins died when a prop gun used in the film Rust was fired, shooting Hutchins in the chest.
Baldwin was told the gun he brandished was ‘cold’ – not loaded – and on December 3, he told ABC News that he did not feel guilty for her death, because he didn’t believe he was responsible.
‘Watching him, I just felt so angry,’ Matt Hutchins, Halyna’s husband of 16 years, said on Thursday.
‘I was just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her.’
Matt Hutchins, a Harvard-educated lawyer, told TODAY he felt that the majority of the blame lay with Baldwin.
Baldwin, in the December interview, said: ‘Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but it’s not me.’
Matt Hutchins said Thursday: ‘The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me.
‘But gun safety was not the only problem on that set. There were a number of industry standards that were not practiced and there’s multiple responsible parties,’ he added.
Matthew and Halyna Hutchins are pictured with their son Andros, aged nine
Alec Baldwin is spotted in New York Thursday morning after an interview with Matthew Hutchins aired on the Today Show
Halyna Hutchins is shown on set with Alec Baldwin, Josh Hopkins (left), Travis Fimmel (second from right) and Jensen Ackles (right)
Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on October 21 after he was questioned about the shooting
The widower, who has a nine-year-old son named Andros with his late wife, filed a wrongful death suit against Baldwin on February 15.
The suit, which alleges at least 15 safety practices were disregarded on the set, argues that a wider cost-cutting culture ultimately led to Halyna’s death.
‘The lawsuit [is] seeking to hold accountable the people who are responsible for Halyna’s death, which was totally preventable,’ Matt Hutchins said.
‘In the end, you know, justice won’t bring Halyna back, but maybe the memory of her can help keep people safe and prevent something like this from ever happening again.’
Hutchins’ October 19, 2021 Instagram post showed cast members and staffers, including Baldwin alongside Hutchins herself and armorer Gutierrez-Reed (circled left to right) on the set of Rust in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Hutchins and Halyna (pictured together) had a whirlwind romance that he described as ‘magical’ and love at first sight. They were married for 16 years
Baldwin’s attorney has said any claims the actor was reckless are ‘entirely false.’
Hutchins met Baldwin in New Mexico shortly after the fatal shooting.
‘Her husband comes to town, her husband Matthew,’ Baldwin said in the December interview with ABC.
‘And I met with him and their son. He was as kind as you could be. ‘
When asked what he said, Baldwin replied: ‘I didn’t know what to say. He hugged me and he goes, ”I suppose you and I are going to go through this together.” And I thought, ”Well, not as much as you are.”’
Brian Panish, representing Matt Hutchins, said the Oscar-nominated actor and others named defendants are ‘responsible for the safety on the set and whose reckless behavior in cost-cutting led to the senseless and tragic death of Halyna Hutchins.’
The suit also names the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, who has said that she loaded the antique Colt .45 revolver with what she believed were dummy rounds.
Gutierrez-Reed named crew member Seth Kenney, who supplied ammunition to the set, in her own suit, filed in January.
Gutierrez-Reed gave the gun to Dave Halls, an assistant director on the movie, who is also named in the Hutchins family’s lawsuit.
Halls told Baldwin the gun was ‘cold.’
Gutierrez-Reed, in her suit, described the set of Rust as a ‘rushed and chaotic atmosphere, (that) created a perfect storm for a safety incident.’
NBC News reported that ‘multiple previous misfires’ by the same prop gun that killed Hutchins caused multiple crew members to walk off the movie’s set hours before the incident.
The set of Rust, at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside of Santa Fe
Alec Baldwin is seen on Wednesday in New York City with two of his children
Matthew and Halyna Hutchins are pictured with their son Andros, aged nine
Lane Luper, who served as the film’s A-camera first assistant, said he quit one day before the fatal shooting because employees were being overworked, COVID-safety was not being enforced properly, and gun safety was poor.
‘I think with Rust, it was the perfect storm of the armorer, the assistant director, the culture that was on set, the rushing. It was everything,’ he told Good Morning America about the events that led up to the fatal shooting.
‘It wasn’t just one individual. Everything had to fall into place for this one-in-a-trillion thing to happen.’
In his letter of resignation, Luper said there had been two accidental weapon discharges on set and one accidental sound-effects explosion that went off around the crew.
‘There have been NO explanations as to what to expect for these shots. When anyone from production is asked we are usually met with the same answers about not having enough time to complete the day if we rehearse or that ‘this is a 21 day shoot,”’ Luper wrote in the letter.
He added that the crew grew exhausted of the long commutes from the set to their lodging, which for some more than two hours away.
‘In my 10 years as a camera assistant, I’ve never worked on a show that cares so little for the safety of its crew,’ Luper said.
She was shot just moments after the crew entered a church set to rehearse a scene (above)
The gun prepared by the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed (right), discharged in Baldwin’s hands as it was aimed at Hutchins (left)
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is pictured filming with a camera in this undated photo
In a statement to Sky News, a spokesperson for the producers hit back at his claims, saying: ‘Mr Luper’s allegations around budget and safety are patently false, which is not surprising considering his job was to be a camera operator, and he had absolutely nothing to do with it or knowledge of safety protocols or budgets.
‘As we continue to cooperate with all investigations, we are limited in what we can say,’ the spokesperson continued.
‘However, safety is always the number one priority.’
Baldwin insisted that he was unaware of any problems on set.
He was rehearsing a scene in which he pulls out his gun and, in an interview with ABC on December 2, said that he never pulled the trigger, but the gun went off anyway.
Additionally, Matt Hutchins said the family is ‘pursuing justice every way we can,’ which includes the civil lawsuit seeking responsibility for Halyna’s ‘totally preventable’ death.