Alec Baldwin’s interview on ABC news is being labelled as ‘distasteful’

Alec Baldwin says he assumed the gun he was holding was empty of live bullets before it went off and killed a cinematographer during a rehearsal on the set of the movie Rust.

In an emotional television interview with ABC News America, which aired on Thursday night, the actor also said he did not see any safety issues on the set before the incident where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.

“We both assumed the gun was empty, other than those, you know, dummy rounds,” Mr Baldwin told the US ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

The actor had been handed the gun by a crew member and told it was safe.

He said he did not pull the trigger.

What prompted Alec Baldwin to have this conversation with George Stephanopoulos?

Entertainment reporter Sam Rubin told tickerNEWS it “does reeks of exploitation”

The police investigation is still ongoing and Rubin says there’s no indication either pro or con as to if criminal charges will be filed.

“It just seems extraordinarily premature to do something like this”

Rubin said

“Alec Baldwin seems very emotional, very raw about the whole thing. But some people here are finding this whole thing somewhat distasteful.”

Rubin said It’s really not about him, but rather about of course, the cinematographer 42 year old Halyna Hutchins who died.

Is it fair that a network actually profit off a murder here when it’s still an open investigation?

Rubin says there is an obvious promotional nature of the interview with “the music that’s been added in the editing, the lighting, the whole thing does to me reek of exploitation.”

He said people have openly questioned if Alec Baldwin should be doing this.

“Most journalists around the world would not turn down the opportunity to have a conversation like this. It is a hour long special with commercial interruptions, the network certainly will profit from it,” he said.

“They’re already talking about the streaming service they’re promoting that will require the special. So yeah, the motivations are not entirely pure.”

Alec Baldwin says he “didn’t pull the trigger” of the gun that fatally wounded Halyna Hutchins – so how did it all unfold?

Are those appropriate things for him to discuss in this atmosphere at this time?

“What I do know is I bet the person who sort of brokered this interview, George Stephanopoulos, his wife is an actress and comedian named Ellie Wentworth. And I know she is friendly with Alec Baldwin,” Rubin said.

“And she isn’t the family. So I don’t know that she necessarily put this together. But it’s entirely possible. They all knew each other socially before this interview.”

Will the interview influence the public here?

“Are you trying to sort of influence a jury before juries even selected that that could be? very legitimate question,” he said.

“New Mexico is a relatively small, small area, but both the sheriff there and the district attorney there, you can just tell sometimes I think you get a sense of these things. They like being on TV, they like all this attention. And so I don’t know if that will influence anything,” Rubin continued.

“I’m not trying to suggest any kind of ethical breach, but you can tell that the bright lights, the cameras, they’re not shying away from them.”

The investigation needs to be completed and then new determination needs to be made have a degree of responsibility and is there criminal responsibility charges be filed that remains a mystery.

Renowned fashion magazine “Elle” has become the first major publisher to say no to fur, ending the promotion of animal products in both editorial and advertising content

A senior exec at the publication says the company is supporting animal welfare and reflecting a shift in tastes globally.

Teaming up with Humane Society and Creatives-4-Change, the magazine’s 45 global editions have signed a charter to make the reform process official.

Thirteen of the 47 have already implemented the changes, with a further 20 following suit in 2022 and the remainder by the end of 2023.

This follows a long-standing campaign by animal fur industry advocates who argue such a pledge is counter-intuitive, because synthetic fur is made with plastics that harm the environment.

But Elle’s international director says “Gen Z wants fashion to be responsible, ethical and innovative, and that’s what’s happening”.

Just days after Jack Dorsey resigned for the second time as CEO of Twitter, his other company, Square, is getting a name change

The parent company of Cash App and Tidal will now go under the new corporate name of “Block”.

Other individual businesses owned by Block, referred to by the company as “building blocks”, will keep their original names except for the company’s Square Crypto initiative.

Square Crypto, whilst keeping it’s ticker name of SQ on the stock exchange, will be renamed as Spiral.

These name changes follow Dorsey’s well known interest in cryptocurrency, with the business having $220 million in bitcoin in its treasury according to the Wall Street Journal.

This contributes to Dorsey, who Forbes estimates to be worth $10.8 billion, as being one of the most influential cryptocurrency advocates worldwide.

Square’s name change comes just over a month after Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook group to Meta.

Square’s business involves payment systems such as banking products for retailers as well as those small square card readers you see at some vendors.

The company’s name change is therefore is simply the introduction of a new corporate name to “tie” the company’s building blocks together.

There will be no organisational change as a result of the name change which is expected to go legally into effect around December 10th..