Alec Baldwin Decides To Not Donate To Sag Harbor Cinema, Representative Says

Nov 15, 2017 9:51 AM

Alec Baldwin has had a change of heart about donating half of a recent “seven-figure” lawsuit settlement to the campaign to buy the Sag Harbor Cinema.

According to Casey Bader, a representative of Mr. Baldwin’s El Dorado Pictures, Mr. Baldwin will not be donating a portion of a settlement he reached last week with the Mary Boone Gallery, despite numerous published reports early this week stating that he would.

“The Sag Harbor pledge was something Alec made prior to the settlement, has since rethought, and will no longer be making,” Mr. Bader said in an email on Tuesday.

Later that Tuesday night, the Twitter page for the Hilaria and Alec Baldwin Foundation posted an update clarifying the situation.

"Our foundation supports that effort and believes they will do important work in the community," the status read.

On Monday, Newsday reported that Mr. Baldwin would be donating half of the money from his settlement with the New York City art gallery to the Sag Harbor Partnership to buy and rebuild the Sag Harbor Cinema, which was seriously damaged in a fire last December.

Newsday based its report on an article in the upcoming November 20 edition of The New Yorker magazine that quoted Mr. Baldwin as ballparking the settlement’s value and declaring his plans to donate half of it.

Catching the news online, the Sag Harbor Cinema posted a screenshot of the Newsday story on the cinema’s Instagram page in celebration.

But then the Twitter page for the Hilaria and Alec Baldwin Foundation page took a screenshot of that photo and posted it on Twitter early Tuesday afternoon, stating: “This is incorrect.”

April Gornik, vice president of the partnership, said Tuesday that she has received no word from Mr. Baldwin or his representatives stating whether or not the partnership will be receiving any portion of the money.

“It’s like being 1,000 feet in the air and then crashing to the ground,” Ms. Gornik said, referring to the crushing disappointment in hearing the bad news.

“There was a miscommunication around Alec Baldwin’s reported donation to the Sag Harbor Cinema. The Partnership was never informed of, or received a financial commitment from him or his foundation," the Sag Harbor Partnership said in a statement on Tuesday night. "We truly admire Alec and Hilaria’s generosity to the arts on the East End, and we are incredibly grateful to all who have been so supportive of our efforts. The cinema is still accepting donations and we are on track for hitting our goal next month.”

According to the original report in The New Yorker, Mr. Baldwin, who has a house in Amagansett, would have received a “seven-figure” settlement check from the gallery’s owner, Mary Boone. He said she had sold him a copy of the 1996 Ross Bleckner painting “Sea and Mirror” in 2010 for $190,000. But Mr. Baldwin noticed something was wrong with the colors of the painting when it was first delivered to him, the article said, but didn’t confirm the fraud until 2016, when he hired an expert from Sotheby’s to confirm his suspicions.

He then met with Mr. Bleckner, who also confirmed that the painting was a copy, and confronted Ms. Boone, who admitted to selling Mr. Baldwin a copy, according to The New Yorker.

Mr. Baldwin filed a civil lawsuit against Ms. Boone in State Supreme Court in 2016, with his lawyers reportedly finding “incriminating” emails stating methods to age the painting and ensure the paint was dry. The parties reportedly settled last week before the case was scheduled to go to trial in early 2018.