Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin opened up about his intense dislike of tabloids, saying the entertainment industry would do better without them. REUTERS

Actor Alec Baldwin has made known his feelings toward tabloid publications like TMZ for what he calls “gotcha journalism.”

During an interview on Piers Morgan's show on Thursday night, the Academy Award winning actor said he believes that the entertainment industry would benefit from the absence of the paparazzi.

The show’s host encouraged Baldwin to remain civil, after the “30 Rock” actor began to talk about his gripes with the tabloids.

"I say this with great respect, because I know that you get much more attention than I would,” Morgan said during the interview. “Whenever I come across these guys, especially TMZ, they always strike me as quite entertaining ... I just find them kind of a necessary part of the business."

Baldwin didn't share Morgan's perspective of TMZ, which is owned by Warner Bros.

“My attitude is that the business would be infinitely better if all of them were gone,” Baldwin said about gossip journalists. “If I could press a button tomorrow and flush them all down some swirling sewer vortex, I would do it."

Morgan was a tabloid editor on such publications as the Sun and Daily Mirror from the late 1980’s until the early 2000’s.

Baldwin’s dissatisfaction with the medias has been well-documented. In 2012 alone, the man behind the Jack Donaghy character has reportedly attacked the paparazzi on multiple occasions.

"I want you to shut the f**k up ... leave my neighbor alone ... get outta here," TMZ has claimed Baldwin said in June to a reporter who was waiting outside his New York City apartment building. The TMZ article also suggested that an inaudible moment from a video was Baldwin saying, "I know you got raped by a priest or something," though TMZ said it can only say that it “sounds like” the actor saying those words.

Earlier that month, Baldwin had an encounter with a New York Daily News photographer outside of a city courthouse. Baldwin has denied that he attacked the man.

“[The photographer] almost hit me in the teeth with the lens of the camera,” Baldwin said in an interview on CBS. “I just pushed the guy away.”

Baldwin has quoted fellow actor, John Malkovich, about the reaction of paparazzi to his altercation. “They all scream like they’re political prisoners,” Baldwin claims Malkovich said.