What’s In His Wallet?

Evidently, a full can of hypocrisy.

Alec Baldwin made news recently with a homophobic rant on Twitter directed at reporter George Stark. Stark had revealed that Baldwin’s wife, Hilaria Thomas, had been tweeting during the funeral of actor James Gandolfini, which both Baldwin and his wife attended.

55-year old actor and spokesperson for Capital One tweeted the following on Twitter from his @ABFoundation Twitter account…

“[I’d] put my foot up your f**cking ass, George Stark, but I’m sure you’d dig it too much.” Baldwin added to his rant by stating, “I’m gonna find you George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I’m gonna f**k you…up.”

It is not the policy of Scandal of the Day, well, not normally that is, to render judgment in our stories. This story is no exception. We do, however, feel it important to mention that had this been Paula Deen making these comments, she would be burning at the stake right now. Why is it that Alec Baldwin gets a pass? Target, Sears, the Food Network, and Walmart dropped Paula Deen like a hot rock made of molten plutonium. They couldn’t distance themselves fast enough, but Capital One is being very quiet and discreet about the whole thing. Both are Democrats, so it would seem political bias is not the driving force. The only difference I can see is that Deen is from the South and Baldwin is from anywhere else. Oh, and Baldwin is a bat-crap crazy liberal.

Bat-crap crazy doesn’t make Baldwin less funny on film, however, and his popularity as an actor and spokesperson has done nothing but help Capital One in the advertising.  Crazy or not, I still enjoy Baldwin’s acting and commercials.

Pro-gay organizations are calling for Capital One to end Baldwin’s contract with them, despite the efforts of Baldwin to apologize profusely to the gay community for his comments. Lacking the cooperation of Capital One, they are calling on Capital One customers to see what’s in their wallets and cut up their Capital One credit cards.

We still live in America where, at least for now, it is still legal to hold prejudice or bias. Public boycotts can be very effective or they can sometimes backfire, as did with Chick-Fil-A. Their sales increased as their Christian base responded with their wallets. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether Capital One realizes what’s in their wallet.

Or not.