Alec Baldwin has sworn off speaking to the media after 2013 proved to be an "awful" year for the actor.
In a feature published in New York Magazine, Baldwin explained his decision to avoid speaking to any publication until further notice.
"Now I loathe and despise the media in a way I did not think possible," Baldwin wrote. "I used to engage with the media knowing that some of it would be adversarial, but now it's superfluous at best and toxic at its worst. If MSNBC went off the air tomorrow, what difference would it make? If the Huffington Post went out of business tomorrow, what difference would it make?"
"Arianna Huffington accomplished what she wanted to accomplish," he continued. "She created this wonderful thing. And what have they done with that? They want clicks, I get it. They've gotta have clicks for their advertisers, so they're going to need as much Kim Kardashian and wardrobe malfunctions as possible. The other day, they had a thing on the home page about pimples. Tripe. Liberal and conservative media are now precisely equivalent."
The actor went on to explain how the media has allegedly twisted his words to dub him a "homophobic bigot," which he credits the likes of Andrew Sullivan, Anderson Cooper and more for spreading the words like wildfire.
"Am I a homophobe? Look, I work in show business," Baldwin wrote. "I am awash in gay people, as colleagues and as friends. I'm doing Rock of Ages one day, making out with Russell Brand. Soon after that, I'm advocating with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Cynthia Nixon for marriage equality. I'm officiating at a gay friend's wedding. I'm not a homophobic person at all. But this is how the world now sees me. I haven't changed, but public life has."
You can read Alec Baldwin's full New York Magazine feature here.
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