Alec Baldwin offered a harsh read of the American public while appearing at an Italian film festival in the wake of Donald Trump’s election win earlier this month.
During a Monday press conference at the Torino Film Festival, the “30 Rock” actor called Americans “uniformed” about world issues while he heralded the movie industry as the “only way” to deliver real information to the masses.
In a video published by Italian outlet Lo Speciale Giornale, Baldwin discussed the state of the U.S. in dire terms.
“In my country, without going into significant detail, half the people in the country are happy, and half the people in the country are very unhappy,” he told reporters. “It’s a very difficult time in the United States.”
The longtime Trump critic then shared how he thinks entertainment is “the only way people can learn what is happening” across the globe.
“Film is unique in this way,” Baldwin said. “Not only what’s happening in the United States, but around the world. What’s happening, you might not learn from the news.”
“The television news in the United States is a business, they have to make money,” he continued. “And again, not to go into great detail about that. But there’s a hole, there’s a vacuum. There is a gap, if you will, in information for Americans.”
The voice of “Boss Baby” then called Americans “very uninformed about reality,” claiming they are ill-versed in “what’s really going on” in the world.
“With climate change, Ukraine, Israel, you name it, all the biggest topics in the world, Americans have an appetite for a little bit of information,” he said.
“Now is probably one of the most important times in our history for us to make films that will teach people about what reality is around the world,” the star added.
Later on in the press conference, Baldwin was also asked for his opinion on Trump’s win by The Hollywood Reporter, but he opted not to comment on the election results outright.
“There are many challenges to face,” he said. “The environment, the problem of plastic, of permafrost: There are plastic molecules in every corner of the planet. These are the real problems to solve.”
Baldwin, who famously impersonated Trump for years on “Saturday Night Live,” has yet to directly address the Republican’s impending return to office.
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The morning after Election Day, however, he shared a post featuring a stark black square with no caption on his Instagram account.
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