What did Baldwin say at Emmys to anger Fox?

HOLLYWOOD actor Alec Baldwin has called News Corp "humourless as well as corrupt" following a decision by subsidiary company Fox to cut one of his jokes for the Emmy Awards last night.

The opening video for the primetime television award ceremony was supposed to be a skit by Baldwin, but he boycotted the show after Fox decided to cut his joke about phone hacking. According to New York Times reporter Brian Stelter, in the controversial gag Baldwin is on the phone with an unnamed colleague when he suddenly pauses and says: "Rupert? Is that you? I hear you breathing, Rupert!"

Fox offered to just take out the offending part and leave the rest of Baldwin's segment intact, but the 53-year-old actor, who currently stars in 30 Rock, pulled out completely, saying that he was afraid the piece wouldn't flow if it was edited.

Baldwin tweeted, "I did a short Emmy pretape a few days ago. Now they tell me NewsCorp may cut the funniest line.”

Fox said that they cut the joke because they did not want to be seen making light of very serious allegations surrounding the phone hacking scandal. But Baldwin, who did not attend the Emmy Awards last night due to a prior engagement, said he thought the joke "would have made them look better. A little."

Nevertheless, the actor, who has already won two Emmys for best lead in 30 Rock, said he understood why it had been cut. "If I were enmeshed in a scandal where I hacked phones of families of innocent crime victims purely for profit," he tweeted, "I'd want that to go away, too." ·