John Schneider is sharing his thoughts on Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” movie set shooting.
On Oct. 21, Baldwin was rehearsing a scene on the New Mexico set of his planned film “Rust” when a gun he was holding discharged. A projectile from the weapon fatally struck cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
An investigation into the incident has been underway for a month now, and Baldwin spoke out Thursday night, claiming during a tell-all interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that despite holding the gun, he “didn’t pull the trigger.”
Ahead of Baldwin’s interview, a preview was released, which featured Baldwin’s comments, and Schneider, 61, shared his thoughts on the matter in an 18-minute video titled “Seriously Alec?“
Schneider claimed the interview was “all designed to make us feel sorry for Alec Baldwin” and claimed the actor’s teary-eyed emotional responses during the interview were “bulls–t.”
Schneider questioned the conversation, asking whether viewers were supposed to “believe that a gun went off by itself.”
“This is a wonderful business we all work in. We are honored and privileged to be part of it,” Schneider continued. “So when someone takes a crap – which obviously George and Alec have done here and obviously this woman is still deceased. Her family is still without a mother, without a wife. This is absurd.”
The “Dukes of Hazzard” alum said he believes “the propaganda machine” is responsible for perpetuating the idea that Baldwin “is a victim.”
“Three weeks ago, it was a prop gun. Four weeks ago, nobody knew how in the world this real weapon was loaded on the set,” Schneider said. “Today, he didn’t pull the trigger.”
“What kind of idiots do you take us for?” the actor questioned. He then pleaded with law enforcement, asking investigators not to believe Baldwin’s claim, calling it “nonsense.”
“Guns do not go off by themselves,” Schneider insisted. “Let us not forget this was a single-action – it was not a Colt, it was a replica … – a single-action weapon needs to be cocked and fired. So what kind of idiots do you take us for?”
“There is just no world in which guns go off by themselves,” he repeated. “… Hutchins is still deceased. And their family is not getting an apology, they’re not getting any – in my opinion – they’re not getting any justice, they’re not getting any answers.”
Schneider then developed an analogy, comparing the “Rust” shooting to a bully pushing a child off of a swing on a playground, resulting in serious injury.
“What is the bully going to say? ‘I didn’t push her! I didn’t push her,’” the actor said. “First they’re going to say, ‘I didn’t know. I didn’t know what was going on.’ Then if that doesn’t work – which, by the way, it still doesn’t work because you are supposed to check the weapon, you fellow – but then you have the audacity to say, ‘I didn’t pull the trigger.’”
The star added that it was “still inexcusable” not to check a weapon when it’s handed to you, even if you’re told it’s unloaded, but admitted it would be “very easy to accidentally pull that trigger.”
It wasn’t just Baldwin that the actor took aim at, however. He called ABC’s Stephanopoulos “the poster boy for leftist propaganda.”
“Why in the world anyone would look at an interview with George as being anything enlightening or having a modicum of truth, I don’t know,” Schneider said. “But that’s just me.”
Schneider also said that he’s “incredibly embarrassed for” Stephanopoulos “because, my God, why are you perpetuating this BS?”