"While on the David Letterman program, I joked that I might need a "mail-order bride" to achieve the goal of having more children in my life. I believe that most people understood that this was a joke and took it as such. (A dated reference, no doubt, and another sign of my advancing age.) However, I do apologize to anyone who took offense. The comments of some Philippine government officials come as no surprise to me, either. Even the one by a former action film star-turned-Senator who beckoned me to come to the Philippines so he could "beat" me over my comment.", according to Alec Baldwin on his website.
Kudos to you Alec for being man enough to say sorry to those you may have offended with your statements in The David Letterman Show, especially to the Filipino people, although it's not really necessary as what you said was obviously a joke as the content of the Letterman Show is comedy thus all statements there are for comedy reasons. Unless of course you said that, "kidding aside..." or "seriously speaking..." and other serious statements. But saying such a joke is no fun either on our side as joking about someone is often funny to other people but not to the person, people, entity, etc. concerned. So with that in mind, personally as a Filipino, apology accepted.
Statements such as this in "comedy shows" should never be taken seriously by Filipinos or anyone for that matter. As the word imply, it's comedy. No offense to Sen. Revilla as I completely understand the "point" he made in his privelege speech but I don't agree with how he delivered it though. Being a public figure or someone being seen by the people [all actions, statements, etc.], he should be mindful of his words as well as being a public official some may think that he represents all Filipinos with his "threats" to Mr. Baldwin. He should be wary that children might see him on TV shouting your lungs out and threatening another human being, be it Pinoy, American or anyone else, just because of a "joke" that was uttered by the person you're threatening. For all we know, there may be a law in the US as well about "threats" [sorry I don't know all the laws] and may be taken against him or worse against the entire Philippines being a public figure at that.
This sends a bad signal to children and to other people who might misunderstand your statements as well. He should inspire people to improve and to improve in ALL aspects. We're not perfect but being a public figure [kahit nga being a simple blogger lang as that is already considered a public figure din], you must strive hard to be as perfect as you can be in all aspects not just for yourself but for other people to be inspired as well.
Mr. Baldwin courageously admitted "his mistake" on that show. And that's being a man. And whether we like it or not, whether we accept it or not, there's nothing else he could do. The same is true with comedienne Candy Pangilinan to the person who fried her because of her "joke" concerning the Igorots. Let's not be a cry baby on matters that should not be taken seriously. But again, serious matters, that's a different thing.
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