LI's Alec Baldwin defends Woody Allen in video

Alec Baldwin on Sunday replaced a 14-minute Instagram video, in which he lambasted what some call "cancel culture," with a much shorter video encapsulating his points.

"I think my last message went on too long," the three-time Emmy Award winner said in the nearly 70-second replacement video for one in which he had criticized social-media outrage over, among other topics, the new HBO documentary series "Allen v. Farrow" about molestation accusations made in 1992 against filmmaker Woody Allen. The allegations were investigated and dismissed by the New York State Department of Social Services, the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Connecticut state prosecutor, and later by two New York adoption agencies.

"What I'm saying is I think that the cancel culture is getting out of hand," Baldwin, 62, continued.

Explaining, "I deleted the other message because you go on and on and on and you try to explain things — it doesn't make any difference," the Amityville-born and Massapequa-raised Baldwin concluded that "cancel culture is creating more problems than it solves. I mean, it's like trawling" in commercial fishing. "It's like a giant, mile-long net and you're catching a lot of people, many of them who deserve it and a few of them, more than a few, who don't, or they don't deserve to have their careers and their lives destroyed."

In the original message, according to the U.K. tabloid Daily Mail, Baldwin took aim at acclaimed journalist Ronan Farrow, Allen's son, who has said he believes adoptive sister Dylan Farrow's accusations against Allen. "They [i.e., Allen] haven't been proven guilty. I don't care how many Pulitzer Prize-winning authors say otherwise," Baldwin said. He additionally noted, "If it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt that this person was guilty, I would certainly be open to changing my tune and even apologizing to victims."

The original video also addressed those calling for New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to resign in the wake of allegations by five women that he sexually harassed them. "The Attorney General is going to investigate accusations against" Cuomo, said Baldwin, according to Daily Mail. "Then, and only then, can we talk about people resigning."

Most Instagram commenters appeared to support Baldwin. "You are so right. Knee jerk reaction without any investigation is what is happening today," wrote one person.

"I thought your previous message was right on the mark Alec. Measured and succinct. Sorry you deleted it," wrote another.

Others disagreed, with one stating, "Call it accountability culture … not cancel culture."