“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?” the actor said on Sunday’s episode of “The Daniel Baldwin Show.”
“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?
Baldwin, the second-oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, became a conservative in 2016 and said he’s never seen high-profile personalities talk so casually about political violence.
“I remember being on movie sets with big-name people, Oscar winner, high-paid talent,” the “Homicide: Life on the Street” star 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.’
“I used to be proud to say I was an actor. 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.”
Baldwin referenced Johnny Carson’s monologue at the 1981 Academy Awards — one day after the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan — in his dig at Kimmel.
“I’m sure that all of you here and most of you watching tonight understand why we delayed this program for 24 hours,” Carson said. “Because of the incredible events of yesterday, that old adage, the show must go on, seemed relatively unimportant.”
“We never hated anyone. We never wanted someone to die or laughed about them dying. It’s really disturbing to me,” Baldwin said.
Kimmel came under fire for his ill-timed joke calling Melania Trump an “expectant widow” — just two days before the shooting at the Washington Hilton.
Melania claimed Kimmel’s “hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” while describing his words as “corrosive.”
Trump also called on ABC, which airs Kimmel’s show, to can the comedian.
“Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” Trump raged in a Truth Social post.
Kimmel doubled down on his gag, claiming his performance was a “pretend roast” far removed from the assassination attempt.
He insisted that the joke was “about [Melania’s] age difference and the look of joy we see on her face” whenever she and Trump are together.
George Clooney was quick to defend his comedian pal — but sparked a firestorm on the internet in the process.
“Jimmy’s a comedian, and I would argue that [White House press secretary] Karoline Leavitt didn’t mean shots should be fired,” Clooney said at last week’s 51st Chaplin Award Gala, as reported by Variety.
Before the event, Leavitt joked there “will be some shots fired tonight in the room” as she previewed Trump’s speech.