Category: Accidents

Categories
Accidents art

Tourist damages 18th century painting in Florence during a selfie gone wrong

tourist-damages-18th-century-painting-in-florence-during-a-selfie-gone-wrong

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2017 photo. Not actual tourist or painting, same museum


Last week we discussed the ridiculous, entirely-preventable accident of a piece of fine art — a Swarovski bedazzled chair named “Van Gogh” — being broken in an Italian museum… when patrons sat on it. It was a couple (as yet not publicly identified), who were taking turns snapping selfies of them hovering over the piece, when the man lost his footing and touched butt to seat, at which point the frame collapsed and the couple fled. This happened in April, but the Verona museum, Palazzo Maffei, only commented on the incident recently. The whole episode was such an absurd, profoundly dumb occurrence, that we knew we weren’t gonna hear another story like— Wait, what’s that? A tourist at the Uffizi in Florence just damaged an 18th century portrait of a Medici when he leaned in to take a selfie? You guys, we couldn’t even make it a full fortnight before another Italian museum had to beseech the public to back away from the priceless art! Once again I am compelled to exclaim, che pazzo!

Restrictions will be placed on visitors taking selfies at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence after a tourist damaged an 18th-century portrait while posing for a photograph, the gallery’s director confirmed today.

In a video posted on the Daily Mail website, the man is seen capturing a picture of himself mimicking the pose of Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, in a 1712 portrait by Anton Domenico Gabbiani.

The man stumbles backward, falling against the portrait and leaving a hole near the prince’s right boot. The tourist reportedly tripped on a platform intended to keep visitors at an appropriate distance from the paintings.

Simone Verde, the director of Uffizi Galleries said in a statement: “The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant: we will set very precise limits, preventing behaviour that is not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage. The tourist, who was immediately identified, will be prosecuted.”

The painting, which is included in the exhibition Florence and Europe: Arts of the 18th Century at the Uffizi, has since been removed for repair. The exhibition runs until 28 November but, according to an online statement, will remain closed until 2 July.

The incident follows another recent tourist mishap at the Palazzo Maffei in Verona, during which a visitor damaged a crystal-studded work called Van Gogh’s Chair (2006-07) by the artist Nicola Bolla. On CCTV footage a man can be seen sitting on the chair and posing for a photograph before the seat buckles under his weight. The museum says that the incident, which took place in April, was reported to the police.

[From The Art Newspaper]

Mamma mia, what is wrong with people?! And I mean that on two fronts: one, the vacuous absence of etiquette (or plain old good sense), and two, why are people tripping so easily? Do we need to bring Charm School back for both manners and balance? Apologies for the vehemence, but I feel that as a species, we’re on the brink of losing our museum privileges! Also, a valuable tidbit that I remind myself every time I travel: no one cares that much about your vacation selfies. With the exception of your mother, but I don’t think she’d be much pleased to learn her child cracked an Italian painting at a famed Florentine museum.

And now for my full confession: with each of these “tourist runs amok in an Italian museum” stories, my first response was to check in with the whereabouts of my best friend. I love him to death, and he is an art lover! But I’ve also had the experience of visiting the Met with him, where he’d rush by the walls of pieces, proclaiming, “Overrated! Overrated! Overrated!” as he saw fit, and managed to set off the alarm for leaning too close to an exhibit of musical instruments. The worst offense, though, was the time he was detained by security guards for sneezing on a Monet. I wasn’t there to witness it, but received a slew of frantic texts from him reporting live on the scene. Luckily, I can confirm that he was not the culprit in either of these Italian misadventures! Regretfully, I have the sneaking suspicion that someday, he will be.

Agli Uffizi un visitatore perde l’equilibrio mentre si fa un selfie e danneggia un dipinto. La scena immortalata in un video. #ANSA pic.twitter.com/uoWVPuarRJ

— Agenzia ANSA (@Agenzia_Ansa) June 21, 2025

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Photos credit: Getty and via Wikipedia/Public Domain

Categories
Accidents art

Italian museum issues plea after couple sat on a crystal-covered chair and broke it

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Nicola Bolla is an Italian artist whose signature style appears to be bedazzling objects with Swarovski crystals. And when I say “bedazzle,” I mean completely covering the item in question. He did this to a toilet, I sh-t you not. So one of his sparkly sculptures was on display in Palazzo Maffei, a museum in fair Verona, where we lay our scene. The title of the piece was “Van Gogh,” and it was a bedazzled chair. What’s in a name? Apparently, it’s an homage to van Gogh’s painting of a chair. (Please, like we don’t know Vincent was a rhinestone queen.) The chair artwork was on a pedestal, but not otherwise protected from viewers, other than a placard that said “Do Not Touch.” And guess what? Someone touched. It was actually two visitors, and by “touched,” I mean they took turns SITTING on the chair. And as it turns out, by “chair,” I mean a structure Bolla built himself that’s mostly held together with foil. Although this happened in April, Palazzo Maffei has only just released the video, to which I say, grazie mille.

Footage released by the Palazzo Maffei, in Verona, shows a man and woman taking pictures of each other while pretending to sit on the so-called “Van Gogh” chair.

The man then appears to slip and fall onto the chair, crushing it underneath him.

Officials have since notified police about the pair, who have not been identified.

“Sometimes we lose our brains to take a picture, and we don’t think about the consequences,” says museum director Vanessa Carlon.

“Of course it was an accident, but these two people left without speaking to us — that isn’t an accident,” she adds. “This is a nightmare for any museum”.

The BBC understands this incident happened in April. Palazzo Maffei released the footage on 12 June.

The chair was built by Italian artist Nicola Bolla and is bejewelled with Swarovski crystals made from polished, machine-cut glass. It is named after Vincent van Gogh as a tribute to the Dutch artist’s painting of a simple chair.

Bolla’s piece is somewhat priceless, in that the museum declined to provide an estimate of its value when asked by the BBC.

Carlotta Menegazzo, an art historian based at the Palazzo Maffei, says that — while it looks sturdy — its frame is mostly hollow and kept together with foil.

“On the chair was a note warning people not to touch, and of course it is placed on a pedestal, so it’s quite clear it’s not a real chair,” says Ms Menegazzo.

Two legs and the main seat were broken, but Ms Menegazzo says “a great job” has been done to restore the piece and it is now back in place.

The Palazzo Maffei opened in 2020 and has 650 pieces on display, including paintings by Picasso and ancient Egyptian art.

Ms Carlon says the majority of visitors are considerate, and she hopes this release of CCTV footage won’t become a “negative episode”.

Instead, she wants to highlight that “anyone should enter art places, or museums or churches, wherever art is displayed, in a more respectful way”.

“Art must be respected and loved because it is very fragile,” she adds.

[From BBC News]

Che pazzo! All of it! Every aspect of this story is insane to me, yes starting with the fact that covering a chair in Swarovski crystals is considered museum-worthy. I know art is subjective, but come on. Ancient Egyptian works. Picassos. Bedazzled chair. Then there’s the title, “Van Gogh,” — it’s just an attention grab, right? But putting those points aside, my incredulity next turns to the artwork chair not being properly protected, including by humans. The museum really had no one on the floor guarding the exhibits? Shouldn’t someone have heard the chair collapsing? If a bejewelled chair falls in the gallery, and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? But of course the craziest part of all this, is the couple taking turns sitting on the damn chair! I agree with the museum director that the only thing worse than breaking it was their scurrying off instead of fessing up. So even though I do not have the highest opinion of this particular artform (as with many pieces these days), please folks, let’s be decent and not touch what isn’t ours. Other than that, all I can say is that I hope Bolla’s Swarovski-clad toilet goes on a date sometime with Maurizio Cattelan’s golden toilet. Also, this line was wry perfection: “Bolla’s piece is somewhat priceless, in that the museum declined to provide an estimate of its value when asked by the BBC.”

Embed from Getty Images

photos and videos via Instagram and Twitter/Palazzo Maffei

Categories
Accidents Insects

14 million bees escaped an overturned truck in Washington State

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Residents of Washington State’s Whatcom County were issued a most startling and unusual notice by their Sheriff’s Office on Friday morning: “250 million bees are now loose. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.” While I applaud the calm, neutral language of this alert… WTF?! So here’s what happened: a commercial truck was transporting 70,000 pounds of honey beehives when the vehicle overturned at 4am on Friday, May 30. By 9am, the beehives had fallen off the truck, hence the mass jailbreak, necessitating a road closure. Luckily, local Master Beekeepers came to the rescue to assist authorities. It was an arduous task, given the beehives had to be rebuilt at the scene, but all clean up efforts were declared complete by Saturday. The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) also eventually confirmed that their original estimates were grossly exaggerated; instead of 250 million escabees, it was more like 14 million. (“Oh, that’s much better,” she said sarcastically.) People Mag has all the buzz:

“Master beekeepers are on scene, and others are on the way, to assist in re-setting the box hives,” WCSO said, per the news release. “The plan is to allow the bees to re-hive and find their queen bee. That should occur within the next 24-48 hours. The goal is to save as many of the bees as possible.”

WCSO deputies and Whatcom County Public Works responded to the scene, along with the WCSO Division of Emergency Management (DEM), who were assisted by several Master Beekeepers.

Authorities have advised locals to avoid Weidkamp between Loomis Trail Road and West Badger, Berthusen Park, for at least 200 yards, as the area remains closed for the next 24 to 48 hours.

Derek Condit, author of The Natural Beekeeper’s Path: Treatment-Free Practices for a Living World, volunteered to help collect the bees. He explained to Komo News that the beehives “crushed” into each other when the truck fell over, so they’re having to “rebuild” them, which has been a delicate and difficult process.

“It’s not necessarily something we can go up with the keepers and just grab the beehives that are collapsing and falling apart,” Condit told the outlet. “So we’re basically one by one rebuilding the beehives, putting the frames back in and have to stack them.”

“These bees are going to swarm in the local areas and start new hives, luckily, so there will be re-pollination in this area, but there will be great losses as well,” he added.

Condit posted a video on Facebook, showing millions of honey bees buzzing in the air during the recollection process. He sported a white beekeeper suit while joined by other rescuers in protective gear.

[From People]

As of this writing, People still hasn’t updated their article to reflect that it was 14 million bees instead of 250 million. WCSO issued a correction to their Facebook page, with the following last line: “Thank you to those who challenged the math and helped us get closer to the true number.” As per usual, I have questions. Who is doing said math, and what even had their honeybee senses tingling to think, “Nah, 250 million is ridiculous. 14 million bees sounds much more appropriate.” The area was closed off for the clean up, so it’s not like this was a visual guestimation. And even if it was all visual — is it possible to gauge the difference between 14 and 250 million bees in a swarm? Not for this rookie! No joke, you could show me an image of 100 bees and I’d cosign on it being 250 million. But getting back to these bee math truthers, was it some equation to do with how many bees per hive multiplied by hives on the truck? (I’m not completely math illiterate, just mostly!) However these people arrived at their conclusions, I’m amazed. Amazed that they were smart enough to know something was off, to know how to make a more accurate guess, and that they cared enough to contact their Sheriff’s Office to correct the number. By contrast, when I hear “loose bees,” I make immediate arrangements to stay the f–k away.

Finally, I must salute all the citizens of Whatcom County for turning out in a crisis… to deliver some truly bee-utiful bee puns on the WCSO Facebook page. Top Three:

1. “Didn’t have this on my bee-ngo card.”


2. “I cannot Bee-lieve this happened. Beee to the one doing the math. Not that it is any of my Bees Wax.”


3. “I wonder if the driver was drinking… like seriously buzz driving is drunk driving.”

Categories
Accidents School shoes

Schools are banning Crocs footwear and say they’re a tripping hazard

schools-are-banning-crocs-footwear-and-say-they’re-a-tripping-hazard



True story: the subway in my neighborhood is actually above ground, so I was hustling my ass up the stairs the other day when I tripped, fell, and spilled my Dunkin’ iced coffee all over myself. I was more upset about the loss of coffee than any damage done to my clothes or person. And I’m fairly certain it was my footwear that instigated the tumble; I was wearing a pair of Crocs-esque kicks I got from Amazon. They squeak on the floor at my office so I sound like a duck quacking with each step but are soooo comfy that I cannot be bothered to care. This was my first time tripping in them, but apparently there’s an epidemic of Crocs taking people down! Seriously, it’s happening so much that schools are starting to ban Crocs entirely in their dress codes as safety hazards. But… but… what happens to all the Jibbitz charms?

An increasing number of schools are banning Crocs — the comfy, bulky slip-on shoes — over alleged “safety” concerns, claiming children keep tripping over their own feet and getting injured.

The beloved shoes — incredibly popular among adolescents and often decorated with charms, called Jibbitz — are banned in some schools in at least 12 states, Bloomberg reports.

Georgia’s Lake City Elementary School specifically mentions the shoes in its dress code, saying, “All students must wear closed toe shoes for safety (No Crocs).”

Jonesboro High School in Georgia enacted a ban last year, adding a disciplinary charge of in-school suspension for any student caught violating the dress code by wearing Crocs, 11 Alive reported.

And in Florida, LaBelle Middle School’s dress code says, “Safe footwear shall be worn at all times. No open toe shoes, bedroom slippers or shower shoes. All shoes must have a strap or back at the heel. Proper lace up athletic shoes must be worn during P.E.) NO CROCS allowed.”

“Whenever someone mentions a foot injury, the first thing everyone says is, ‘I bet you they were wearing Crocs,’” LaBelle school nurse Oswaldo Luciano told Bloomberg, referring to his group chats with other nurses.

Stumbling in Crocs is so common that it sparked a viral TikTok meme, where kids shared videos of themselves putting on their Crocs — and then promptly (although purposely) tripping over their feet.

Crocs even acknowledged the meme, commenting “Only the cool kids get it ????” on one of the videos.

And while kids love the ease and comfort of the shoes and the ability to personalize them, a podiatrist told NPR that they’re not ideal for all-day wear.

“I’ve seen more structural issues like heel pain, arch pain, sometimes more hammertoes, because you have to grip the shoe to keep them on and so the toes are overworking,” said Priya Parthasarathy, a podiatrist in Silver Spring, Md., and a spokesperson for the American Podiatric Medical Association.

But, she added, “Crocs are a godsend when you’re trying to get out of the house, because my 3-year-old can put them on independently.”

A spokesperson for Crocs gave PEOPLE the following statement:

“The Crocs Classic Clog is a comfortable, casual shoe that is appropriate for everyday wear but not intended for athletics or more strenuous activities. We are unaware of any substantiated health and/or safety complications with wearing our products. Since our brand inception, students have and continue to wear our Classic Clog in their day-to-day activity, whether for pre- or post-sport, as part of a school club or simply as a means of showcasing their personality. For many, our shoes create community and allow for personal self-expression — both of which are factors we know are meaningful for students. Banning them feels unnecessary.”

[From People]

What? Crocs Corporate isn’t worried, as evidenced by their 102-word response to People Mag. They’re fine! And I’m sure a fleet of lobbyists aren’t being organized and deployed as we speak to combat the bans. That would be silly. Naw, you know I’m just teasing the $6.19 billion company. They don’t need lobbyists to kick up a fuss on their behalf — the school children of America will do that for free! Our own Rosie has testified that the Jibbitz alone are essential “currency for playground trading,” so trying to curb Crocs will disrupt multiple economies. Plus it’s downright un-American to tell citizens what they can and cannot wear! So I say this to the school boards of our country: I stand with our kids in demanding our right to wear comfy yet potentially unsturdy plastic shoes that will probably cause us to face-plant at least once. It’s called FREEDOM. And if/when we eventually fall in the tricky footwear, children can then learn the American tradition of asking our public institutions why they didn’t have protections in place to keep us from injury in the first place, thus completing the cycle. Ok, civics class dismissed.

Also, please wear your Crocs responsibly.

Note by Celebitchy: this story was written before the election was called

Categories
Accidents Chris Martin Concerts

Chris Martin fell in a trap door on stage while performing in Australia

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Chris Martin fell in a trap door in Melbourne, Australia over the weekend while performing with Coldplay during their Music of the Spheres world tour. This comes on the uprooted heels of Olivia Rodrigo falling in a trap door at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, during a stop for her GUTS world tour just last month. What is happening with the onstage trap doors in Melbourne, Australia?! One incident is a crazy accident, but two in the same city within the span of a month, and I’m ready to start talking conspiracy theories. But I suppose it’d be proper to first get a hold of the facts before I start spinning wild perfectly plausible scenarios:

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin took a dramatic tumble during a show in Australia before emerging apparently unhurt from a hole in the stage.

Video of the incident posted to social media showed Martin addressing the crowd at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Sunday as he walked around during a break between songs, before suddenly disappearing from view.

His fall appears to be broken by someone standing below the stage, and Martin soon returns to a standing position.

“That’s uh, not planned. Thank you for catching me, so much. Thank you, guys,” said Martin.

“Holy sh*t, that was nearly a YouTube moment,” he added.

Martin then continued with the show, which was the fourth and final gig in Melbourne as part of Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour.

The first show in the city was also marked by an unwelcome development, as bassist Guy Berryman was absent due to illness.

“Tonight was the first time in our band’s history that we’ve played a show without all four members onstage,” Coldplay said in a post on Instagram.

“Guy was taken ill unexpectedly just before the show. Thank you for carrying us through it.”

The band will play four dates in Sydney next before moving on to Auckland in New Zealand.

The tour will end with 10 shows at Wembley Stadium in London starting August 22 next year.

Martin’s mishap comes after a similar incident involving singer Olivia Rodrigo at a recent show at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

The US pop star was running around the stage lit only by a spotlight when she suddenly plunged into a hole, appearing to catch herself using her arms.

[From CNN]

All right, Melbourne, what do you have to say for yourself? Why are you systematically trying to take out global touring artists via arena stage trap doors? My guesses, in no particular order: the ghost of an 19th century Australian singer is haunting the venues of Melbourne in retaliation for being upstaged by a foreign performer the night of what was supposed to be their big debut. Or, kangaroos have unionized and taken over stage management duties and simply don’t understand how humans can’t make a decent jump. Or, there’s no ill-will and these really have been accidents, it’s just that the US-based acts keep forgetting that trap doors are on the other side of the road Down Under. All very viable options!!

I do hope Chris Martin followed in Olivia Rodrigo’s other footsteps, and went to the hospital post-show to rule out a concussion. While Olivia ran forward towards her hole, Chris walked backward into his and, yeah, it wasn’t pretty. It certainly looked like he got a rush of blood to the head. (Thank you, thank you, yes that was well done.)

The moment Chris Martin fell through a trapdoor right in front of me at the #Coldplay concert tonight. pic.twitter.com/qIdzMEGG0s

— Greg Briggs (@greg__briggs) November 3, 2024

Photos credit: Mike Gray/Justin Ng/Avalon, Getty

Categories
Accidents Concerts Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo fell through a hole on stage, ‘oh my god, that was fun’

olivia-rodrigo-fell-through-a-hole-on-stage,-‘oh-my-god,-that-was-fun’




Olivia Rodrigo had the honor, nay, the privilege of being granted an audience with the King of Australian king penguins: Pesto, the giant baby penguin. The grand meeting happened last week at Pesto’s palace, the Sea Life Melbourne aquarium, where Olivia was in town for four stops on her Guts World Tour. While everything after meeting Pesto was naturally going to be a let down by comparison to the fluffy king, I didn’t think things would go downhill so immediately or literally. At her Sunday performance in Melbourne, fans caught on camera Olivia very dramatically falling through a hole on stage. Who left a gaping hole on stage?! Pro that she is, Olivia popped back up and quipped, “Oh my god, that was fun.” Oh, to be young… and able to spring back from a fall so easily.

It really is brutal out here. Olivia Rodrigo’s lyrics imitated life when she took a nasty tumble through a trapdoor while on the stage during her Guts World Tour show in Australia.

The “bad idea right?” singer, 21, was performing at Rod LAver Arena on Sunday, Oct. 13, in Melbourne, when she suddenly disappeared after accidentally falling through a trapdoor.

As the crowd gasped, Rodrigo came up for air and joked about the incident.

“Oh my God, that was fun! I’m OK,” the Grammy winner said, chuckling at her unexpected tumble while pulling herself up.

“Wow, sometimes, there’s just a hole in the stage,” she laughed. “That’s alright.”

Trying to compose herself, the “Vampire” singer took a deep breath and stated, “OK, where was I? How’re we doing tonight, Melbourne?”

Rodrigo quickly recovered from the spill and finished the concert without another fall. She later poked fun at the mishap via TikTok.

Posting a clip of the accident, she captioned the footage, “#subtleforeshadowing.”

The pop star has several shows left on the Australian leg of her first-ever world tour: one more in Melbourne and four in Sydney.

Rodrigo’s plunge happened just weeks before the release of her Netflix concert film, “Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour.”

The streaming giant filmed the special at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The film promises to give fans a look inside her sold-out tour, featuring songs from her latest album, “Guts,” and her debut record, “Sour.”

It’s available to stream on Netflix starting October 29.

“I am so excited to share the GUTS World Tour with my fans,” the star said in a statement. “For those of you who didn’t get a chance to rock out in-person, now you can have the best seats in the house! And to the fans who cheered, screamed, and danced with me, I am so glad we get to do it all over again!”

Rodrigo’s 2024 touring year will end after her remaining stops in Australia — but she won’t be on break for long.

The “Deja Vu” singer’s overseas tour will resume in March 2025 at Lollapalooza in Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Rodrigo will also head to Colombia for Festival Estereo Picnic before ending in Manchester on June 30 and July 1.

[From NY Post]

Seriously, who left the trap door open on that stage?! This was not her first show in Melbourne, so presumably she’d performed at the venue before without any mishaps. There is no way this problem wouldn’t have been discovered and fixed if a proper pre-show stage check had been done. In terms of danger level, this reminds me of someone switching out Kesha’s prop knife with a real butcher knife at Lollapalooza this summer. Watch the video below — Olivia falls through that hole hard. And not surprisingly, given that the trap door is seamlessly camouflaged with the stage. Thank goodness it appears she wasn’t badly hurt. And good on her for finding a way to laugh about it, a la Lainey Wilson when she realized her pants had split open on stage. All of these women handled their near-catastrophes like champs. Still, they deserve a better job of safety being secured before the show goes on.

Olivia Rodrigo falls into the stage hole at her Melbourne show:

“Oh my god! That was fun!”

pic.twitter.com/XfALrVRlee

— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 14, 2024

Olivia rodrigo tripped and fell into a hole on stage during her show ????

This looked bad hope she is doing fine now pic.twitter.com/8Q6nPnnbjM

— s ♡ (@taaadaaaaa_) October 15, 2024

in this moment i was fully like okay i’ve just witnessed olivia rodrigo break her leg ???? pic.twitter.com/7TNgOo2jvI

— amelie౨ৎ⸆⸉ (@folkmoonlight) October 15, 2024

Photos via Twitter and credit: Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon, IPA/INSTARimages, FV/Cover Images

Categories
Accidents Alec Baldwin Bill Maher quentin tarantino

Quentin Tarantino: Alec Baldwin is ‘10% responsible’ for Rust shooting

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Quentin Tarantino was a guest on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast over the weekend. I could only watch the first few moments, because I have a certain amount of self-respect work. But what I saw was Quentin already seated and drinking coffee/tea out of a cup. Only it turned out… it was a PIPE. Like he’s Sherlock Holmes! Cracked me up. Anyway, apparently Quentin’s big a** pipe is not what people are talking about after this interview. Instead we’re talking about Bill asking Quentin to comment on Alec Baldwin’s culpability in the killing of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving an 18-month sentence, while Baldwin’s case was dismissed last month because the prosecution withheld evidence. Quentin, who’s featured many-a-gun in his movies, laid out what he believes to be a reasonable division of responsibility for handling a gun on set: 90% with the armorer, 10% with the actor. And he elaborated:

Quentin Tarantino is weighing in on the Rust set shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, following the dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s involuntary-manslaughter trial.

In an interview with Bill Maher for the most recent episode of the latter’s Club Random podcast, the 61-year-old director, who is no stranger to firearms on his film sets, was asked about the incident and subsequent trial dismissal.

“It’s a situation, I think I’m being fair enough to say, that the armorer — the guy who handles the gun — is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun, but … the actor’s 10% responsible,” Tarantino said. “It’s a gun. You are a partner in the responsibility, to some degree.”

Added the Pulp Fiction filmmaker during the interview, released Sunday, Aug, 25, “If there’s steps to go through, you go through them, and it’s done with due diligence. And you know it’s f—in’ for real.”

An attorney for Baldwin, 66, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, while a rep for the actor had no comment.

Baldwin was indicted by a New Mexico grand jury in January after the gun he was holding during an October 2021 rehearsal on the set of his Western movie discharged, killing 42-year-old Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

On the third day of Baldwin’s trial in July, the actor’s lawyers claimed prosecutors had withheld evidence and asked the judge in the case, Mary Marlowe Sommer, to dismiss the charge. Sommer agreed to the defense’s request, and issued a stinging rebuke of the prosecutors in the case.

[From People]

Full disclosure: Quentin Tarantino’s films are not my cup of tea (or in my case, iced coffee). Yet I can still fully appreciate that Quentin has talent, style, and an avid command of film history. But different people have different tastes, and that’s ok. Because Quentin is a prominent filmmaker, I must say this comment from him gave me pause: “If there’s steps to go through, you go through them, and it’s done with due diligence.” What do you mean, “if,” Quentin? There are always steps to go through and protocols to follow when handling prop weapons and/or stunt work. When the safety measures are not strictly adhered to, no matter how boring or repetitive they may be, that’s when tragic accidents happen. Like a person on set losing her life, or suffering from chronic pain even 15 years later. The measures are there to protect people. Something for Quentin to think about, maybe the next time he’s smoking a pipe.

In the meantime, I feel it’s my civic duty to continue to remind the public of how much Bill Maher looks like Sylvester the Cat.

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Embed from Getty Images

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Photos credit: Olivier Sanchez / Avalon, Getty and via YouTube