By now, I’m sure you’ve heard or heard about the unbelievable voicemail that Alec Baldwin left for his 11 year old daughter (listen to it here). 

Hearing this and all the press that it’s been getting, it reminded me of a conversation I had with my parents a while back.  I knew that 30 Rock would be a show that they would enjoy, and I recommended that they should check it out.  They both quickly said that they would never watch it.  When I pressed them further, their answer was simple.  “Alec Baldwin.”  See, my parents are very much Republican, while Baldwin is about as red state as a person can be.  His many tirades against the Bush administration drove my parents, along with many others, I’m sure, to the point where they will not have anything to do with anything connected to him.  I’m sure that the recent voicemail tirade against his daughter will serve to further that gap.

So…when do an actor’s actions warrant a boycott?  At what point does the off-screen behavior of a performer bring us to the point where we can’t maintain the ‘temporary suspension of disbelief’ any longer?  I know that it will differ from person to person, but here’s my stance on it.

30 Rock is not ‘The Alec Baldwin Show’.  It’s a show with many talented individuals that Baldwin just happens to also be on.  Personally, I don’t think it’s fair to not give an entire show a chance simply because of one actor’s actions.  Now, if a talk-show host said some of the same things, you might have a case, since that person largely is the show.  Case in point, the Bush-bashing that the country group Dixie Chicks gave a couple of years ago.  (Don’t take this post as being political…these two events were just the first couple of things that popped into my mind.)  Their actions resulted in being banished by the majority of country radio.  This makes a little more sense, with the boycott affecting the ones that performed the offending action, rather than penalizing a large production for the actions of one small portion.

So there’s my rant for the day.  What do you think?