Stephen Baldwin is persecuted (he says)

[slickcat79]

Wait...he's still ranting about this shit? I never quite figured out if it was a joke or not, but there were people grifting on his behalf making the same claims like 3 years ago.

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Of course I always preferred the vastly superior "Restore Joss Whedon" anyway...

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[Anxious Girl]

How come other Christians aren't being "persecuted" in Hollywood? Or is it only Angus's and Baldwin's speshul snowflakity-flakey brand that is? ... Is it odd that I don't know who he is? :think: I feel like I have heard his name before, but for a politician.

[Gil]

Must be real hard to be a white, straight, abled, cisgender, Christian-identified man in America. Maybe one of them will become president one day.

Stephen Baldwin actually believes that he is persecuted because he isn't a movie star. That's just about the definition of entitlement.

[mirele]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/go ... 8412.story

Baldwin was arraigned for repeated failure to file tax returns for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010, according to the Rockland County district attorney, who said the youngest of the Baldwin Brothers owes more than $350,000 in taxes and penalties.

The 46-year-old "Celebrity Apprentice" alum and talk-radio host pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance.

Not breaking the link, because the LA Times is not going to care, but...HOW THE FUCK can he say he's being persecuted, when he owes $350K for just three years of back *taxes*?

That's not income, that's just fucking TAXES.

Earth to Stephen: When you obviously make way more than the average American does each year, you cannot whine and say you're being persecuted.

[ThisOlGirl]

Robert Downey Jr. was such a mess at one point that he couldn't even get insured to work on a movie or TV set. But he was such a great actor (I know these things are subjective) that someone (I forget who) insured him with their own money. Now he's freaking Iron Man.

But Stephen can't get work (& therefore show off his mad actin' skillz) because he's a Christian. Yeah, ok.

[Levon]

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at a Baldwin family Thanksgiving.

[Black Aliss]

What part of Matthew 22:21 ("Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's") do fundies like Baldwin and Jennifer McKinney (MckMama) not understand? Unlike same-sex marriage and abortion, Jesus actually had something to say about paying one's taxes.

[Dysfundamental]

The IRS is persecuting him. True Christians never should have to pay taxes.

Absolutely! After all, WWJD?

"And Jesus, answering, said unto them 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.'" (Mark 12:17)

But wait, Paul must have clarified this further, right?

"Pay everyone whatever you owe them---taxes to those to whom taxes are due, tolls to whom tolls are due, fear to whom fear is due, honor to whom honor is due." (Romans 13:7, though I cheated a bit here in using ISV; the King James has "tribute" and "custom", which are clearly footnoted as meaning "taxes and levies" and "tolls and fees")

Sorry, Stephen, you're not playing by your own stated rules.

Oh, snap, MollyTrolley!

But seriously, this "pay your taxes" is a big thing; it's in all of the Synoptic Gospels and expanded on in Paul. Much bigger deal than the gay or whatever other stuff these folks' panties bunch about.

[sugaree]

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at a Baldwin family Thanksgiving.

Oh, there's a short documentary about a Baldwin Thanksgiving: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPBDonlprXE.

[Guest Anonymous]

Must be real hard to be a white, straight, abled, cisgender, Christian-identified man in America. Maybe one of them will become president one day.

Stephen Baldwin actually believes that he is persecuted because he isn't a movie star. That's just about the definition of entitlement.

I LOVE the smell of schadenfreude in the morning.

[Jezebel Duggar]

I've heard Denzel Washington talk about his faith, and he seems to be able to get work. Then again, he has talent and is sexy as hell!

[FaustianSlip]

Robert Downey Jr. was such a mess at one point that he couldn't even get insured to work on a movie or TV set. But he was such a great actor (I know these things are subjective) that someone (I forget who) insured him with their own money. Now he's freaking Iron Man.

I believe (though I could be mistaken) that it was Mel Gibson who paid out of pocket to insure him in The Singing Detective. Speaking of whom, there's another person who was, at least at one point, an extremely religious Christian who was defended at every turn by a huge chunk of Hollywood who gave him chance after chance, until he demonstrated himself to be an anti-Semite... twice. Heck, I think people would probably still consider cutting Mel a break if they could be reasonably assured that he wasn't going to run out and yell at more Jewish people.

Of course, Mel is Catholic, and we all know they're not really Christian. The same probably applies to Martin Sheen, who is also a pretty devout Catholic. They're probably being propped up by the Illuminati or something, no doubt. :roll:

[moodygirl86]

I think this guy wants to be Kirk Scumeron when he grows up...

[Ramona]

I'm quite sure that Hollywood isn't filled to overflowing with only Atheists. There are PLENTY of other actors/actresses/etc who follow their faiths without making a stink out of it and claiming it's ruined their careers.

[Ramona]

Just from a quick google:

Tom Hanks - Christian (possibly Orthodox)

Tom Cruise - Scientologist

Mark Wahlberg - Christian (Catholic)

Paul Walker - Christian (raised LDS now non-denom)

Micheal J. Fox - Jewish

John Travolta - Scientologist

Chuck Norris - Christian

Orlando Bloom - Buddhist

Sylvester Stallone - Christian (Catholic)

Jon Heder - Christian (LDS)

Richard Gere - Buddhist

Said Taghmaoui - Muslim

Justin Bieber - Christian

Demi Lovato - Spiritual

Selena Gomez - likely Christian based on purity ring comments

Nina Dobrev - Christian (Bulgarian Orthodox)

David Archuleta - Christian (LDS)

Dianna Agron - Jewish

Rick Schroder - Christian (LDS)

Julia Roberts - raised Christian (Catholic), converted to Hinduism

Those are just a few that I found... seems like you can be a celebrity AND a person of faith, who'd have thought?

[FaustianSlip]

Wow, Michael J. Fox is Jewish? I had no idea! Though reflecting upon his name now, I guess it's not terribly surprising. I also had no idea that Julia Roberts is Hindu.

Also, Natalie Portman is Jewish, as is Rachel Weisz. Robin Williams is Episcopalian, Mariska Hargitay is an Orthodox Christian, and Robert Downey Jr., last I heard, identifies as a JuBu (a Jewish Buddhist). You have to be either willfully ignorant or completely denying reality to try and make a serious claim that everyone in Hollywood is an atheist, or that everyone in Hollywood except you and a handful of coreligionists are just pretending to be faithful when in fact they're victims of secularism. There are a wide variety of religious views in Hollywood, ranging from Robert Downey Jr.'s combination of Buddhism and Judaism to Madonna's Kabalah. People are all over the place, and only the most hard-line of evangelicals would try to make a serious claim that they're failing to land work because of their faith. If Stephen Baldwin was less of a douchebag, perhaps, or a better actor, he might not have this problem. The fact is that if you make it worth their while, either financially or in terms of publicity, Hollywood will find a way to make your religion work. Look at Mayim Bialik, for crying out loud- she's a self-described, "aspiring Orthodox" Jew, only wears skirts, tries to avoid working on Shabbat and Yom Tov, yet she's working on a hugely successful sitcom. Her religious needs are far more invasive, in terms of practical application, than those of the average evangelical Christian, yet she's got work. This is not a question of religiosity, but one of attitude and personality.

I vividly remember watching The Celebrity Mole, in which Stephen Baldwin starred along with other stars, mostly B- or C-listers. His Jesus fish baseball cap notwithstanding, he was unpleasant and douchey to virtually everyone, and a number of the other celebrities, including Kathy Griffin, commented on his attitude and behavior. Starring in one good movie one time is not, generally, enough to cover you for the rest of your Hollywood career. Stephen should spend less time bitching about his so-called "persecution" and more time improving his attitude and acting abilities. Then he might not have these problems.

[JenniferJuniper]

I believe (though I could be mistaken) that it was Mel Gibson who paid out of pocket to insure him in The Singing Detective. Speaking of whom, there's another person who was, at least at one point, an extremely religious Christian who was defended at every turn by a huge chunk of Hollywood who gave him chance after chance, until he demonstrated himself to be an anti-Semite... twice. Heck, I think people would probably still consider cutting Mel a break if they could be reasonably assured that he wasn't going to run out and yell at more Jewish people.

Of course, Mel is Catholic, and we all know they're not really Christian. The same probably applies to Martin Sheen, who is also a pretty devout Catholic. They're probably being propped up by the Illuminati or something, no doubt. :roll:

One small point of clarification - Mel Gibson is not Roman Catholic. He's a part of a sect that broke away from the Church post Vatican 2. Which technically makes him a heretic in the eyes of the Church I think, but I'm not fully current on dogma.

Mostly I just think of him as a Psychotic though.

[sugaree]

Reese Witherspoon.

Nicole Kidman.

Angela Bassett.

Chris Tucker.

Kristin Chenoweth

Tyler Perry (and his works all have strong Christian themes and motifs)

All Christian; all more successful than Stephan Baldwin. I'm thinking the real difference here is talent and professionalism. For crying out loud, Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner is a Bible-studying church goer of many years, and she has, with no talent at all, been able to network and publicize her entire family into the kind of pop-culture popularity that Baldwin can only dream of. In spite of her crippling Christianity. Go figure.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Loads of celebrities follow religions...but they never force their religion on other people and arent fundie.

Or it could be that theyre more talented than him.

[happy atheist]

I think what's telling is that with most celebrities you don't know what their religion is unless you go asking/looking. They aren't being obnoxious about it, which makes them easier to get along with and work with. Nobody wants to work with a holier-than-thou proselytizing douche of any religion.

[lilwriter85]

Too bad the soap genre is dying. Stephen could work there and meet some fellow fundie lites. I love the soap genre for being campy and some storylines are very good, but the fundie lite soap stars are annoying.

Some celebs are a bit quiet when it comes to religion, occasionally they tweet a Bible verse, or talk about praying for other people. Katy Perry who was raised by fundie lite pastors is still religious and she has prayer circles with her band and dancers before performances. I haven't heard of Christian celebs trying to convert other their co-stars. But in Hollywood, some of Scienotologist celebs are always trying to convert others and some have succeeded it. One example is Danny Masterston getting That 70s Show co-star Laura Prepon to convert.

[Jana814]

But in Hollywood, some of Scienotologist celebs are always trying to convert others and some have succeeded it. One example is Danny Masterston getting That 70s Show co-star Laura Prepon to convert.

The same thing happened to John Travolta, he was doing a movie (maybe an flob) and a woman in the movie started talking to him about her church and how it has change her life.

As for Stephen Baldwin, the guy can't act so because he is not as successful as Alec he decides to blame the downfall of his career on religion. Something similar happened w/ Kirk Cameron, when he was still on Growing Pains and because a Christian, he started alienating the other members of the cast, because they did not believe what he did. Also I once read a article about it and a guy who was a crew member said that a few people (crew members) left the show because they could not deal w/ Kirk trying to convert them.

[lilwriter85]

Was John Travolta the one who got Kirstie Alley and her ex-husband Parker Stevenson to conver to CO$.t? Over the years, I've read gossip about non-Scienco celebs avoiding Scieno celebs outside of film and TV sets. I think some of those rumors are true. Kirk Cameron was also an ass to the producers of GP because of some aspect of the storyline involving one of Mike's girlfriends. The Julie McCullough firing incident was done in large part because of Kirk. Kirk didn't invite his co-stars to his wedding and Tracy Gold mentioned this in her book. I

[patsymae]

"Loads of celebrities follow religions...but they never force their religion on other people and arent fundie.

Or it could be that theyre more talented than him."

Both of these. Martin Sheen, for example, is very vocal about being a committed, religious, observant (but of course on the liberal side) Catholic (he even took his stage name from Bishop Sheen), but that doesn't seem to have hurt his acting career. Peter Himmelman is clear about his Jewish Orthodoxy and refuses to work on Shabbos (a big deal for a musician if maybe not so much for an actor), and yet he remains in demand. Reese Witherspoon regularly appears in tabloid photos of her taking her children to church. Denzel Washington is the son of a Pentecostal minister and has donated millions of dollars (ok, forget the tax thing) to his church. Tina Turner is (or was? not up to date) a very vocal and committed member of Nichiren Shoshu.

And so many more. Even if you leave out the Catholics, Jews and Buddists as being not "real" religions, there's a host of "Christians" who don't hide the fact and continue to get work. Jane Fonda, one of the most hated women in America in many circles, has been yammering on for years about how she is now a born-again Christian, and she still continues to get great Hollywood roles (despite, also, her age, which isn't really a bonus in Hollywood).

Why do these people remain stars and Steven Baldwin not? Oh yeah, it can't be their talent or the fact that they aren't impossible assholes to work with. It must be their religion.

Like that kid from 3 1/2 men. Isn't cute anymore, isn't a good enough actor to continue a career after the series ends, and the series looks like it is ending. So walk away claiming religion is the reason.

[PennySycamore]

I love that about Casablanca! I already knew about some of the actors, but I was just astounded to find out how many of the actors and actresses were refugees. Even the actor who played Major Strasser was a refugee, in real life. It was already one of my favorite movies, but now I love it even more.

Btw, the guest programmer last evening on TCM mentioned how many of the actors were refugees.

(edited to add the last sentence)