Emmy Winners: Alec Baldwin Explains his Emmy’s Absence
“30 Rock” actor Alec Baldwin has explained his absence at this year’s Emmy Awards saying he had a birthday party to attend.
The actor chose to attend Tony Bennett’s 85th birthday gala in New York City, despite being nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor at the Emmy’s.
“No Emmys for me this year,” Baldwin wrote on his Twitter account last week. “I’m hosting Tony Bennett’s EXPLORING THE ARTS gala. And I voted for Steve Carell!”
Baldwin, who has recently become very active on Twitter, was reportedly miffed that Fox cut his skit scheduled to air during the Emmys. The piece poked fun at the New of the World Rupert Murdoch phone hacking scandal in Britain.
In response to the omission, Baldwin tweeted: “Fox did kill me NewsCorp hacking joke. Which [stinks] because I think it would have made them look better. A little.”
The pre-taped skit was pulled for fear that the joke was in poor taste, and that the serious allegations surrounding the scandal should not be made light of, Fox reported to Entertainment Weekly.
“I didn’t skip the Emmys because of that,” Baldwin told reporters about the segment being pulled.
During the gala, he continued, “I skipped the Emmys because of this- I wanted to be here.”
The 53-year-old actor added, “The Emmys have been in August for the last several years, but they moved to this date and I’d already committed to this.”
“Star Trek” alum Leonard Nimoy replaced Baldwin in the segment.
The “30 Rock” star lost his Emmy nomination to Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory.”
When asked if he would win the award, Baldwin accurately told reporters, “There’s no chance.”
“The Emmys are something I’m going to watch on YouTube tomorrow,” said the actor, who appeared on the red carpet with girlfriend Hilaria Thomas.