Alec Baldwin apologizes for using a gay slur in Twitter rant

LOS ANGELES — Alec Baldwin is defending himself against accusations of homophobia after he took to Twitter in an angry rant against an LA-based journalist.

George Stark wrote an article for the UK's Daily Mail accusing Baldwin's pregnant wife Hilaria of tweeting inappropriately upbeat messages during "The Sopranos" star James Gandolfini's funeral.

The Daily Mail has removed the story after the reporter failed to read the timestamps on the tweets correctly but the focus quickly shifted to Baldwin's heated personal attack against the reporter.

He used a string of expletives and gay slurs against the reporter – calling him a "toxic little queen" and threatening to beat him up and to put his foot up… um, somewhere.

"But I'm sure you'd dig it too much," Alec tweeted. 

Baldwin deleted his Twitter account but the damage was done and now he's left insisting that the remarks were not homophobic.

Anderson Cooper weighed in on the debate by asking why Alec Baldwin got 'a pass' for using the slurs. "If a conservative talked of beating up a "queen" they would be vilified," he wrote.

Baldwin issued an apology to the New York-based gay rights group GLADD.

"My ill-advised attack on George Stark of the Daily Mail had absolutely nothing to do with issues of anyone's sexual orientation," he said.

"My anger was directed at Mr. Stark for blatantly lying and disseminating libelous information about my wife and her conduct at our friend's funeral service. As someone who fights against homophobia, I apologize."

Baldwin told Gothamist in an interview that he didn't use the word "queen" to mean sexual orientation.

"It doesn’t have any necessarily sexual connotations," he said. "To me a queen… I know women that act queeny, I know men that are straight that act queeny, and I know gay men that act queeny. It doesn’t have to be a definite sexual connotation, or a homophobic connotation."