Gillian Anderson is breaking her silence after catching heat from Alec Baldwin for "switching" between a British and American accent. Baldwin received widespread backlash after he passed the remark about the bidialectal actress and subsequently deleted his Twitter account last week. Speaking about the ordeal with Entertainment Tonight, Anderson took the high road and said the response he received was "sad."
"It's so not a newsworthy item, but I'm sad that it's caused him so much distress," she said.
Anderson was born in Chicago but spent a large portion of her childhood in London, where she now lives. This has impacted her accent, which changes according to her location. She drew Baldwin's attention last week when speaking in an American accent during the Golden Globes.
"Switching accents? That sounds … fascinating," Baldwin tweeted. The post caused a massive sensation on social media.
"I don't have social media on my phone so I wasn't [aware]," Anderson shared. "A couple people texted to say that something was going on. I didn't pay any attention to it because it's just something that I live. I grew up between two countries and so depending on who is in my ear is which direction my accent goes. So I'm so used to it that it's kind of old news for me."
Baldwin later apologized for his remark, which came shortly after his wife Hilaria came under attack for speaking in a Spanish accent and misrepresenting her heritage. She is not from Spain and grew up in America.
"The person I was referring to is someone I am a huge fan of ... and that comment was meant to just illustrate the point that multicultural expressions of anyone ... that's your business," he said in an Instagram video on Wednesday.
Baldwin also detailed why he chose to quit Twitter, explaining that it was full of “a**holes."
"The problem with Twitter is, it's a lot of haters"," he said. "It's one-third interesting posts ... one-third tedious, puerile nonsense, and then it's one-third abject hatred and malice and unpleasantness."