Pop Spotlight

Ireland Baldwin, daughter of Alec Baldwin, seemed to inadvertently highlight the similarities surrounding the accidental shooting death her father was involved in and this past weekend’s Astroworld tragedy in a string of Instagram posts that also correctly bemoaned the spread of misinformation surrounding both events.

In a series of since-deleted posts on Instagram Stories — which began with the rather unfortunate sentence, “Y’all are really killing me these days” (per The New York Post) — Baldwin slammed the Satanic panic that’s swiftly spread online in the wake of the Astroworld tragedy, which left at least eight dead and many more injured. Baldwin said similar online theorizing (although not necessarily involving the Devil) came after Alec Baldwin accidentally fired a prop gun that resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust.

“You believe everything that you see on Twitter and TikTok and completely bandwagon on spreading misinformation,” Ireland Baldwin wrote. “First, you were armory/stunt coordination pros when it came to the horrific tragedy involving my dad… and now Travis Scott is demonic because he ALLOWED people to die at his show?” She continued: “People lost their children at this show and [all] you’ve got to say is that Travis Scott’s music is demonic and [he] belongs in prison? Jesus.”

While Baldwin said she was not “defending” Scott, she acknowledged that — having seen the rapper live twice before — he “incites the rage.” Still, when it came to responsibility for the festival, Baldwin stated, “There should have been so many protocols in safe to keep kids safe.” 

While Baldwin deleted those stories, on Monday, Nov. 8, she posted a handful of clarifications and reiterated her main gripe: “Making baseless, misinformed claims and conspiracy theories all over the internet does nothing but takes away from the facts and actually honoring those who are suffering due to this. I was personally ‘triggered’ because of recent misinformation that spread from the tragic event that took place on my father’s movie set. And SO many people pretending like they have any idea how filmmaking and stunt coordination works.” 

Baldwin added, “There are absolutely no parallels to be drawn between these two tragedies other than there are people who’s [sic] entire job is to keep somebody safe.” In another post she said, “So many people royally fucked up and the families deserve to be compensated,” before noting the deluge of lawsuits that have already been filed, some of which have named both Scott and Live Nation as defendants. “So one last time, we are on the same page,” Baldwin said, “(along with TS) there are others to be blamed, hopefully nothing like this ever happens again.” 

It’s a fair point. And one could certainly argue that “so many people royally fucked up” on the set of Rust ahead of Hutchins’ death, including those most responsible for ensuring a film set stays safe, the producers. Among the producers on Rust? Alec Baldwin.