June 27, 2013: Alec Baldwin, left, and his wife Hilaria Thomas arrive at Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine before funeral services actor James Gandolfini in New York. (AP2013)
A coalition of leading gay and straight activists are calling for Capital One to part ways with spokesman Alec Baldwin following his homophobic Twitter rant directed at a reporter.
“We urge all Americans to ask themselves, ‘What’s in your wallet?’ We hope they will reject Alec Baldwin’s homophobia by cutting up those Capital One cards in their wallets,” Jimmy LaSalvia, gay conservative strategist and GOProud co-founder, told Breitbart.com.
Baldwin has apologized for the tweets directed at reporter George Stark who wrote a story claiming the actor’s wife, Hilaria Thomas, was tweeting during the funeral of Soprano’s star James Gandolfini.
“My ill-advised attack…had absolutely nothing to do with issues of anyone’s sexual orientation,” Baldwin said in a statement sent to the gay rights group GLAAD on Friday. “As someone who fights against homophobia, I apologize.”
But an apology from the actor is not enough according to John Hawkins, who works with LaSalvia at RightWingNews.com.
“It’s still a free country and Alec Baldwin can do as much gay bashing as he likes on Twitter, but it’s hard to understand why Capital One would choose to publicly condone his homophobia by keeping Baldwin on as its spokesman,” Hawkins told Breitbart.com. “If Capital One is not going to do the right then, then Capital One doesn’t deserve our business.”
The company, so far, has refused to comment or respond to multiple calls and emails from FOX411 to several press representatives.
Baldwin’s controversial tweets read, “[I’d] put my foot up your f**king ass, George Stark, but I’m sure you’d dig it too much,” and “I’m gonna find you George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I’m gonna f**k you…up.”
The 55-year-old actor sent out the messages from his @ABFoundation Twitter account, according to screen grabs published online. Baldwin disabled the account following the rant but it has since been restored – minus the offensive tweets – and it seems business, for Baldwin is back to normal.
“Liberals and conservatives may not agree on much, but we should certainly be able to agree that Alec Baldwin’s comments were way over-the-line and completely inappropriate,” Hawkins told Brietbart.com.
Some have pointed out that while Baldwin’s homophobic slurs were similar to TV chef Paula Deen’s racial slurs (she admitted to using the N-word 30 years ago), the fallout is not. The 66-year-old chef was dropped by all of her major business partners, including Target, Walmart, the Food Network and Sears, while so far Baldwin seems to be getting off scot free.
“Companies know the media won't beat them up for keeping Baldwin on board, despite his violent threat and homophobic comments,” explained Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at Media Research Center. “Why? Because he's liberal and the same rules don't apply.”
Gainor predicted Baldwin likely won’t see any repercussions.
A non-scientific poll taken by Sodahead.com asked users if they believed Baldwin should lose his endorsement deals following the tweets. More than 80 percent of respondents said yes.
Baldwin’s rep did not immediately return FOX411’s request for additional comment.
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