Last week, John Oliver pressed Dustin Hoffman on allegations he sexually harassed a 17-year-old production assistant while filming "Wag the Dog." The discussion, which took place at a Q&A celebrating the TV movie's 20th anniversary, seemed to inspire Alec Baldwin to tweet about whether late-night hosts should be addressing such serious issues.
"Talk shows were once promotional pit stops for some blithe chit chat about movies, etc," he wrote in the post. "Now the likes of @iamjohnoliver and @StephenAtHome have flipped that and they are beginning to resemble grand juries."
On Sunday, Alec clarified his comments on Twitter, having apparently seen the Huffington Post's coverage of his tweet about John.
"1- I offer a correction to @elysewanshel of @HuffPost," he wrote (via Vulture). "I did not suggest that late night hosts 'stick to' blithe chitchat.' I merely pointed out that the migration from then to now is striking. And that I believe @iamjohnoliver was rather heavy-handed in his approach to DH."
He went on to take issue with the fact that so many high-profile members of the TV and film industry have suffered life altering consequences for behavior they may or may not have exhibited.
"2- people have lost their jobs, their reputations and the legacy of their good/great work. Some have deserved that," he wrote. "Some have not. And all without a single conviction in a courtroom. If Weinstein is not convicted in court, this movement may be in jeopardy of derailing."
At the panel about "Wag the Dog," John accused Dustin of blowing off the production assistant's claims without proving he had done nothing wrong.
Dustin reacted to the allegation in a statement by saying, "It is not reflective of who I am."
Said Oliver: "It's that part of the response to this stuff that p—– me off. It is reflective of who you were. You've given no evidence to show that it didn't happen. There was a period of time when you were creeping around women. It feels like a cop-out to say, 'Well, this isn't me.' Do you understand how that feels like a dismissal?'"