- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Tumblr
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
You can run, Edward Snowden, but you can’t hide from … Alec Baldwin?
The actor and Twitter quitter, who interviews celebrities and news-makers on his bimonthly WNYC podcast Here’s The Thing, tells Vanity Fair that he wants to snag the fugitive National Security Agency leaker as his next guest.
“I want to try to interview him for my podcast on WNYC. I’m pressing all the buttons I have in London with friends of mine who know [Julian] Assange. I’m going to fly to Russia and try to interview Snowden,” he says, adding: “I’m going to try.”
Asked whether Baldwin, whose politics lean left, is a supporter of Snowden, Baldwin responds: “I’m not a fan or a critic. I want it to play out. It’s like [Daniel] Ellsberg, you know? Insofar as let’s find out what he’s got. Let’s not assume automatically that he’s an enemy of this country. If he is, well then we have laws that, unfortunately for him, he’s f—ed. They’re going to get him; I’m sure someone is going to trade him.”
A rep for Baldwin did not respond to The Hollywood Reporter‘s request for comment.
STORY: Oliver Stone on Edward Snowden: ‘I Would Grant Him Asylum’
Snowden, meanwhile, is seeking asylum from a handful of countries with the assistance of WikiLeaks, the controversial organization founded by Assange, who remains holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Last month, the NSA contractor was charged with espionage in revealing top-secret surveillance programs; afterward, he fled from Hong Kong to Moscow’s airport, where he continues to be stationed; earlier this week, he withdrew his request for asylum in Russia after President Vladimir Putin said that in order to stay in the country, he would have to stop harming its “American partners.”
Snowden responded with a statement slamming the Obama administration, saying: “Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person.”
Although Baldwin has not publicly rallied behind Snowden, other boldfaced names including Oliver Stone, Roseanne Barr, John Cusack and Danny Glover have signed a petition urging Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, to grant Snowden’s asylum request.
Besides hoping Snowden will be available for a podcast chat, Baldwin proclaimed to Vanity Fair that he’d love to quit acting and is done with Twitter for good (especially given his F-bomb-laden tirade against a Daily Mail journalist last week).
“I went to Jimmy Gandolfini’s funeral, and when I was there I realized Jimmy Gandolfini didn’t have Twitter,” he said. “Jimmy Gandolfini was so beloved as a person, and he was so admired as an actor, and he didn’t give a f— about social media.”
The actor deleted his Twitter account Thursday following a rant against reporter George Stark, who earlier in the day had written a story about Baldwin’s wife, Hilaria, accusing her of tweeting during Gandolfini’s memorial service in New York. He later apologized, and as of Wednesday, his Twitter account was reactivated but cleared of tweets dated past March 22.
Email: Erin.Carlson@THR.com
Twitter: @ErinLCarlson
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day