MSNBC cancels late-night talk show of Alec Baldwin

NEW YORK - Reuters

Alec Baldwin’s late-night talk show ‘Up Late with Alec Baldwin’ has been canceled as the show’s viewership fell 40 percent after homophobic accusations. REUTERS photo

Emmy-award winning actor Alec Baldwin’s late-night talk show on cable TV news network MSNBC has been canceled, the network said on Nov. 26.

The talk show, “Up Late with Alec Baldwin,” was suspended earlier this month after the actor apologized for comments he made to a New York photographer that a gay rights group described as homophobic.“We are jointly confirming that ‘Up Late’ will not continue on MSNBC,” the network and Baldwin’s representative Matthew Hiltzik in a joint statement.“This is a mutual parting and we wish Alec all the best,” MSNBC added.

The show’s viewership fell 40 percent from the 654,000 who watched its premier in mid-October to 395,000 when it was suspended in mid-November.

In a video posted on celebrity website TMZ.com, Baldwin is shown confronting the photographer on a New York street and calls him a homophobic slur that drew the ire of gay rights group GLAAD, which has previously defended the actor when he was accused of homophobic language.

Baldwin, who has had many confrontations with photographers and reporters, also came under fire in June for homophobic tweets aimed at a reporter for Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.