Former Rep. Barney Frank said Sunday he had no issues appearing with Alec Baldwin at a forum for a documentary largely about the former congressman, in light of Baldwin's latest outburst of homophobic remarks.
Earlier this month, Baldwin fired off another round of scathing tweets with homophobic references directed at a former aide to Mitt Romney. Around that time, it was announced that Baldwin would appear alongside Frank at the premiere of the documentary Compared to What, which highlights Frank's legislative successes and battle to publicly embrace his sexuality.
BuzzFeed asked Frank whether his association with Baldwin infringed upon his image as a fighter for LGBT rights.
"First of all, each of us is perfectly capable of talking for himself," Frank said. "The notion that when you appear in some common forum with someone that you're each adopting the other's views, no I don't pay much attention to that. And secondly, Mr. Baldwin is perfectly capable of explaining himself, but I don't have any problem with it at all."
Baldwin, also invited to respond by BuzzFeed, jumped in as Frank was finishing his remarks.
"And if I could answer that question in the prism of promoting the film, I'll let you know, I'll get back to you," Baldwin said. "But we're here to promote the film."
The documentary doesn't shy away from including details of Frank's involvement in a prostitution scandal in the late 1980s that almost ended his political career. But Jim Ready, whom Frank married in 2012, said he was outraged by the filmmaker's decision to include the scandal in the film.
"I don't understand why the moviemakers would want to embarrass somebody that went out of their way to let them make a movie about him. That kind of bothered me a little bit," Ready said, when asked what he thought of the documentary.
"I don't think that was very relevant and they didn't need to put that in there," he went on to say. "His 94-year-old aunt is here, she didn't need to see that. It was embarrassing. My mom is going to see it and stuff, it's just kind of rude."
BuzzFeed has reached out to the Alec Baldwin Foundation for additional comment but has yet to hear a response.