Matt Hutchins, the husband of the late Halyna Hutchins, has come forward to discuss the on-set prop gun accident that resulted in the death of the Rust cinematographer.
In the exclusive interview with TODAY, Hutchins cites the lack of on-set safety protocols, and the lack of “responsibility” taken by actor and producer Alec Baldwin as reasons for the deadly incident.
“The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me,” Matt Hutchins tells TODAY host Hoda Kotb.
“But gun safety was not the only problem on that set. There were a number of industry standards that were not practiced and there’s multiple responsible parties,” he adds.
Six weeks after the accident, in October, Baldwin sat down for an interview in which he said, “Someone is responsible for what happened. And I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.” This, Hutchins says, made him “so angry.”
“Watching him I just felt so angry,” Hutchins says. “I was just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her.”
“Almost sounds like he was the victim. And hearing him blame Halyna in the interview and shift responsibility to others and seeing him cry about it,” Hutchins continues. “I just feel—are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?”
The investigation into exactly what happened that day and who’s to blame for the on-set death is still ongoing by the Santa Fe Police Department. Last week, Halyna Hutchins’ family filed a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and the other Rust producers for her death, citing “reckless behavior and cost-cutting [that led] to the senseless tragic death.”