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Actor Daniel Baldwin criticized Jimmy Kimmel’s political rhetoric after the latest assassination attempt against President Donald Trump, accusing the late-night host of “planting this kind of hatred.”
In a clip from the May 3 episode of “The Daniel Baldwin Show,” first picked up by Breitbart on Monday, Baldwin said he was saddened by the reaction to the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner last month, where authorities say a gunman targeted Trump and members of his administration.
Baldwin used the attack to criticize anti-Trump attitudes in Hollywood and Kimmel’s repeated criticism of the president, arguing that even in an entertainment culture long hostile to Republicans, he has never seen public figures talk so casually about political violence.
“I remember being on movie sets with big name people, Oscar winner, high-paid talent,” Baldwin said. “And they would just be sh—– on some politician or person, like, ‘Yeah, someone should get him.’ ‘Someone should shoot him,’ once someone said in front of me. And I thought, ‘Wow, your voice carries weight. You know, your words have followers and people.’”
Actor Daniel Baldwin criticized Jimmy Kimmel’s anti-Trump commentary after the latest assassination attempt against President Donald Trump. (Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images/ Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)
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He then questioned whether Kimmel’s late-night commentary could fuel hatred toward Trump.
“Does Jimmy Kimmel not realize that when you keep bombarding in every one of your monologues and planting this kind of hatred in the American public or the people that follow you, someone might act on that?” Baldwin asked.
“Now, does that exonerate Kimmel of any wrongdoing? Yeah, he didn’t do it, but did he play a role in it? Does he care that he played a role? Is that the point? Does he do it because he wants that to happen? I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I’m sad, man,” he added.
Baldwin contrasted today’s climate with Hollywood’s response to the 1981 assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan, referencing a resurfaced clip of Johnny Carson addressing the delayed Academy Awards after Reagan was shot.
Jimmy Kimmel hosts “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on April 23, featuring guests Ray Romano and Tracy Morgan. (Randy Holmes/Disney)
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“We never hated anyone. We never wanted someone to die or laughed about them dying. It’s really disturbing to me,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin, the second-oldest of the four Baldwin brothers who became a conservative in 2016, said the hostility he now sees from some in the entertainment industry has changed how he feels about his own profession.
“I used to be proud to say I was an actor,” Baldwin said. “You walk into a room now and say, yeah, I’m an actor. I’m a movie actor and television actor… It’s not something I’m as proud to say or is it as big a deal because of the hatred that comes out from that side.”
Johnny Carson hosted the 53rd Academy Awards broadcast on March 31, 1981. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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Kimmel has faced criticism after joking days before the shooting that first lady Melania Trump had the glow of an “expectant widow” during a mock White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner skit.
The joke prompted the president and first lady to call for his firing. Kimmel later said the line was “a very light roast joke” about Trump’s age, not a call to violence.
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“It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination,” Kimmel said.
Last year, Kimmel was briefly suspended by Disney after controversial remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk sparked outrage, and ABC said the show would be preempted indefinitely. He returned to the air days later and insisted he never intended to make light of Kirk’s death.
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ABC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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