A number of false claims have spread in the aftermath of the tragic shooting on the film set of movie Rust.
While firing a prop gun on the movie set for Rust, actor Alec Baldwin shot and killed cinemaphotographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
A number of false claims have spread in the aftermath of the shooting, which we discuss below.
Alec Baldwin is more recently known for his impressions of former president Donald Trump on the TV show Saturday Night Live. This was likely the inspiration for a fake claim that Baldwin was in the middle of an anti-Trump rant while firing the weapon that killed Hutchins.
The rumour is spreading in the form of a screenshot from an unknown media article, as per below.
However the screenshot is fake. The majority of the text is from a real source, Fox News. However the paragraph about Baldwin being on a Trump rant was added into the screenshot. The original Fox article did not mention anything about such a rant.
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A second rumour that is equally false goes on to incorrectly attribute a quote to Baldwin. An article on notorious conspiracy website Gateway Pundit makes the claim that Baldwin – after the shooting – asserted he was allowed to “pick his own gun”. That quote is below.
‘They had me pick my gun. They were like, “Alright, what gun would you like?” I was like, “I don’t know”, and the armorer was like, “Do you have gun experience?” I was like, “A little”, she was like, “This is how you load it…check it’s safe. Do you want it hip drawn or cross drawn?” I was like “cross drawn, that sounds fun”.’…
However that quote was actually said a month prior by actor Jensen Ackles, not Alec Baldwin.
A third rumour that has also circulated social media in the form of a fake newspaper article claims that shortly before discharging a fatal shot, Baldwin jokingly waved the gun around and said “How about i just fuckin’ shoot the both of ya“.
However, the newspaper article isn’t real. The majority of the text again has been lifted from a genuine article, this time on Variety.com but the excerpt about the quote from Baldwin has been added in.