‘Narcissistic’ Alec Baldwin accused of making Sam Neill tribute about himself

Alec Baldwin was among the many celebrities across the globe who jumped on social media Monday to pay tribute to Sam Neill, the beloved and versatile New Zealand actor who died at age 78, after a five-decade career in TV and film, notably in the “Jurassic Park” movies and classics of New Zealand and Australian cinema.

In Baldwin’s case, he shared some feelings about Neill’s death by filming a video of himself for Instagram, which is what the 68-year-old Hollywood veteran has done in the past for the growing number of colleagues and contemporaries who have died in recent years. And, as it typical for one of Baldwin’s Instagram videos, he rambled as he started talking about Neill, who was one of his co-stars in the 1990 spy action thriller “The Hunt for Red October.”

But in the video, Baldwin almost immediately gave in to what his many critics say is to be expected of a polarizing media personality who they also say often comes across as entitled, narcissistic and attention-seeking. They accused Baldwin of making his tribute to Neill about himself.

“The narcissism is insane,” someone declared on the /r/Fauxmoi/ sub-Reddit.

Users on this and other Reddit threads noticed that Baldwin opened his roughly three-minute video by saying, “I just wanted to come on here quickly and say, how stricken I was to learn of the death of Sam Neill.”

But that was the last time he mentioned Neill’s name — until the very end of the video.

Baldwin instead spent most of the time talking about his own burgeoning film career in 1989, when “The Hunt for Red October” provided him with his first leading-man role, playing CIA analyst Jack Ryan. He gushed about “what an exciting experience that was,” especially in getting to work with some famous co-stars, including Sean Connery, James Earl Jones, Tim Curry and Scott Glenn. He also ticked off some of those famous names, though he somehow didn’t include Neill in his list.

“Bro mentions Sam Neill once and makes the entire conversation about his own life story on the film,” one person said on the r/PopCulture sub-Reddit. Someone replied, “Alec Baldwin cannot make anything about anything other than about himself.”

Similarly, on the /r/HilariaBaldwin sub-Reddit, which is dedicated to covering the scandals and escapes involving Baldwin and his controversial influencer wife, Hilaria, someone wrote: “He can’t just give condolences to Sam Neill’s family or speak of the wonderful Sam Neil, he has to bloviate about himself & his name dropping.” People also accused Baldwin of trying to gain “clout” by getting his name into international news coverage about Neill’s death.

Back on the /r/Fauxmoi/ subReddit, someone tried to be a bit more measured by observing: “This is a man who is thinking about his own eventual death because of the death of a colleague, instead of eulogizing the colleague at all.”

To be fair to Baldwin, he concluded his video by declaring, “On my god Sam Neill! My love to his family, Rest in Peace.”

The “30 Rock” and “Malice” actor also appeared to be genuinely upset about the death of Neill, who spent the past four years battling blood cancer with chemotherapy and other treatments. While friends said Neill had recently been declared cancer-free, they also said his weakened immune system made him susceptible to infections and revealed he died of pneumonia.

Over on Baldwin’s Instagram, the “30 Rock” actor received more than 900 comments on his Neill video with people remarking that Baldwin “didn’t say much about Sam Neill” and “not much of a tribute. Do better Alec.” But others thought it was a nice enough tribute, even “lovely.”

“Honestly, I think Sam Neil would have gotten a kick out of this,” someone said with a laughing emoji.

People also thanked Baldwin for reminding them of Neill’s talent and of “The Hunt for Red October.” In the Cold War-era submarine spy thriller, based on the Tom Clancy novel, Neill played a Russian executive officer on a Soviet submarine, the “Red October” of the film’s title.

But as with any online commentary about Baldwin, his Neill video prompted people to once again debate his role in the fatal 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set “Rust,” a Western film he was starring in. Alec Baldwin spent the next three years facing lawsuits, a police investigation and trial for involuntary manslaughter charges.

It’s clear from the Reddit commentary that many have never gotten over the fact that the criminal case against Baldwin was dismissed in 2024 due to the prosecution withholding evidence. Indeed, some people wrapped up their criticism of Baldwin’s Neill video in with their anger about him not facing criminal penalties for Hutchins’ death.

“He could have said,'(Neill) was great to work with and a wonderful person’ but instead talks about himself,” one person said. “(Expletive) you Baldwin and keep better track of guns on set.

Meanwhile, these Baldwin “haters” take consolation in the view that his career has never recovered from the “Rust” controversy. While Baldwin continues to work, his upcoming projects listed on IMDB mostly appear to be low-budget independent films. They are not the kind of major studio projects, like “The Hunt for Red October,” which he made with Neill when both actors were at the start of their careers.

The “A-list version” of Baldwin is “over” because major studios view him as “toxic,” according to entertainment and gossip writer Rob Shutter. “The offers just aren’t there,” a source told Shuter for his Naughty but Nice Substack in April. “Studios don’t want the baggage.”