Alec Baldwin Explains Skipping The Emmys & His Sketch That Got Cut

Why did Alec Baldwin skip the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards last night?

It wasn’t because FOX cut one of his jokes.

The actor, who was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, stopped by Access Hollywood Live on Monday, where he set the record straight.

“One thing I want to clear up is that my not going to the Emmys had nothing to do with that,” he said, referring to reports that a axed joke in a taped segment with host Jane Lynch about the News of the World phone hacking scandal in Britain was not the reason.

“I was committed a year ago to do Tony Bennett’s fundraiser with his wife Susan, which was a great evening,” Alec told Billy Bush and Kit Hoover. “I had committed to that a year ago and then they moved the Emmys, from August to September, and it conflicted with that date. All along, I knew I wasn’t going to the Emmys.”

Alec explained that when the playful jab at the scandal was cut, he asked that his pre-taped portion be removed.

“They then cut the joke out, which was this kind of a swipe at the phone hackings scandal… I guess I’m used to a different thing… We made fun of GE everyday and they loved it,” he said referring to “30 Rock,” whose parent company NBC Universal was owned by GE. “I thought that NewsCorp had the same sense of humor, but apparently they didn’t, so I asked them to cut my sketch out of the whole piece.”

Leonard Nimoy stepped in at last minute to fill in for Alec in the sketch with host Jane Lynch that kicked off the show.

Earlier in the interview, Billy couldn’t help but notice that Alec appeared trimmer.

“I stopped eating refined sugars, desserts and sweets and things,” Alec revealed.” I lost like 20 pounds in like three months from not eating that.”

In more Alec news, “30 Rock” was launched into syndication today, airing five days a week. Check your local listings for channel and times!

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