Looks like old habits die hard — especially when you’re Alec Baldwin.
Early this morning, Baldwin, 56, posted — and subsequently deleted — a tweet with apparent homophobic overtones following an argument with former Mitt Romey aide Garrett Jackson.
The spat began when the actor posted a tweet from the Alec Baldwin Foundation handle (@ABFalecbaldwin) criticizing the Keystone XL pipeline, causing Jackson to respond with a tweet attacking Hollywood.
Things turned heated as the two traded insults back and forth, escalating when Baldwin posted, “You’re on your knees in that photo. What’s up with that, Garrett?” in reference to Jackson’s Twitter avatar.
“Come on. Being a homophob [sic]has gotten you in enough trouble,” Jackson responded.
Baldwin, undeterred, wrote back: “While you’re on your knees, you can polish my Emmys.”
Baldwin later deleted the exchange from his profile, prompting Jackson to post: “Glad @ABFalecbaldwin agent finally got to him to tell him to stop. Noticed he has deleted the on the knees tweet.”
He soon replaced it with several others, however, calling out by name many of the news organizations covering the incident as “challenged” and writing, “You’re gonna have to be better than that.”
The actor, who was fired from his MSNBC talk show in November after directing an anti-gay slur at a photographer, has recently launched an effort to redeem himself in the eyes of the LGBT community. In February, he penned his own defense in New York magazine and on April 27 the actor will appear alongside openly gay ex-Rep. Barney Frank to discuss a documentary on Frank at the Tribeca Film Festival.
A representative for Baldwin declined to comment.
