Alec Baldwin criticized for launching reality show amidst manslaughter trial
According to a legal expert, the timing of Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria Baldwin's newly announced TLC reality show is "not ideal" given his ongoing manslaughter case.
An insider, not connected to the case, told People Magazine, "the timing of the show overlapping with the trial seems strange, but that's also life and how projects work."
"Sometimes you just don't control the timing of when things will or will not air, and we don't know how long this was in the works."The source notes that while some may view a reality show as being in poor taste, it is unlikely to influence the trial's outcome.
"There is still a legal process that will play out," the source said, "and you have to trust in that process."
On June 4, Alec, 66, and Hilaria, 40, revealed their upcoming reality show, "The Baldwins." A teaser video offered a preview of the family dynamics between the couple and their seven young children, set to air on TLC in 2025.
The announcement of the Baldwins' reality show follows Alec's indictment by a New Mexico grand jury and his being recharged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal 2021 Rust shooting, where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on set.
His trial is scheduled for July.
Under New Mexico law, he faces up to 18 months in prison with the new charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in April.
Gloria Allred, the attorney representing Hutchins' parents and sister in a civil suit against Baldwin related to the Rust shooting, told TMZ that she believes the reality show "appears to me, to be a calculated and cynical public relations move to try to influence the jury pool in New Mexico to think of him as a sympathetic family man."