Story highlights
Baldwin's paparazzi clash happened outside New York's Marriage License Bureau
"A 'photographer' almost hit me in the face with his camera this morning," Baldwin tweets
"He was looking mad," the photographer tells the New York Daily News
"Any subsequent physical contact was simply Alec protecting himself," rep says
Alec Baldwin claims he was assaulted by a photographer on a New York street Tuesday morning, but the New York Daily News accuses the actor of attacking its employee.
The incident happened as Baldwin emerged from the city’s Marriage License Bureau, where he obtained a marriage license with fiancee Hilaria Thomas, the Daily News reported.
“A ‘photographer’ almost hit me in the face with his camera this morning,” Baldwin said in a Twitter posting, which carried the hashtag #allpaparazzishouldbewaterboarded.
The newspaper said Baldwin, who “approached with an angry glare,” hit Daily News photographer Marcus Santos, who was “standing innocently with two other photographers,” in his chin.
“He was looking mad,” the paper quoted Santos saying. “He said, ‘Step back; step back.’ I said, ‘We’re moving back.’”
Santos said he stepped back, but Baldwin “kept coming.”
Photos taken by one of the other photographers and published by the Daily News showed the confrontation, including one image of Baldwin with his hands extended toward Santos’ chest.
Baldwin’s representative, in a written statement to CNN on Tuesday, said the actor and his fiancee were leaving New York City Hall when a “‘civilian’ walking in front of Alec positioned himself to obstruct the view of a photographer aggressively trying to shoot the couple.”
“The photographer was clearly frustrated, pushed past the bystander and assaulted Alec with his camera,” rep Matthew Hiltzik said. “There were no punches thrown, and any subsequent physical contact was simply Alec protecting himself.”
Previously on CNN: Alec Baldwin talks about getting kicked off plane
CNN’s Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.
