[This article has a full update – click through to read]

What began as an article on New Now Next has blossomed into a full-scale Twitter meltdown for former Firefly alum (as well as current anti-gay conservative and cast member of TNT’s The Last Ship) Adam Baldwin. And in the process he dragged acquaintance Nick Searcy from FX’s Justified into the fray as they both spent the better part of their Saturday afternoon and evening trolling my twitter account over an off-the-cuff commentary tweet on anti-gay remarks initially made by Baldwin.

It began when Baldwin wrote a tweet stating, “What’s wrong, now, with a father marrying his son for love & to avoid tax penalties?” Dan Avery at New Now Next saw the tweet and wrote about it which lead to Baldwin’s eventual meltdown. And the rest, well – here’s a handy dandy Storify of this evening’s events (bottom of this article) so everyone can see exactly what transpired. As a side note, while I normally wouldn’t contact someone’s employer to report anti-LGBT behavior, having a public, influential role such as actor or politician is different and warrants an exception. If you’re being paid enough to influence thousands – if not millions – of people with your opinion and if you rely on public image and clout to maintain that work, you can’t cry foul when someone holds you accountable for your publicly spoken or written words. Particularly if those words (broadcasted to millions of people) denigrate an entire minority group.

Edit to add as of February 22, 2014:

Later in the evening, Nick Searcy’s tweets took a decidedly negative turn toward an anti-weight, fat-shaming tone so I first attempted to step away from the debate and ask him to get help, and then completely disengaged from the conversation. Neither worked, as you’ll see in the tweets below. Fat-shaming is never okay.

Edit to add #2 as of February 23, 2014 @ 11:30pm ET:

To address a question/criticism that seems to be rampant on social media boards at the moment: this article was written after the fact. Several people have insinuated that I “set up” their conservative actor hero(es) for pageviews. To that all I have to say is this: I never intended to make this a big deal (otherwise my initial tweet wouldn’t have been as snarky and hashtagged as such). Baldwin didn’t have to respond – and when he did respond (and called in Searcy), they didn’t have to be belligerent in their conversation and tone. I didn’t set out to make these actors look like wingnuts; they did it fine all by themselves. I merely aggregated the tweets after the conversation was (mostly) over and posted them here since I think the world deserves to know what these two actors really believe.

Responding to their attacks doesn’t make me disgusting, doesn’t make me ‘as culpable,’ or any other combination of absurdity I’ve heard since this began. It makes me a random blogger in Boston who spoke out against a ridiculous marriage equality comparison. It makes me that same blogger who suddenly became the target of two ultra-conservative D-list celebrities and their poorly-phrased, playground-level insults that reflected more on their personalities than anything. And just so we’re clear, my take on the conversation (though it touched on being overly offensive at times) never truly veered too far off the “it’s insanely ridiculous that this is happening” mindset. In fact, I said (in part) on Facebook of the incident as it was happening, “I think it’s hilarious that they’re both spending their Saturday night on Twitter trolling a random guy in Boston for saying something about Adam Baldwin on Twitter.”

Update #3 as of February 25, 2014 at 11am ET:

We’ve been cited by a few notable national publications like HuffPo, Jezebel, and The Escapist. One consistent question I’ve received that seems to keep cropping up (other than the questions addressed in the last update) is the fact that I used the hashtag #idiot in my initial tweet to Baldwin. Though I addressed this briefly above, I think it deserves more than a one sentence throwaway.

I never expected Baldwin to respond. Honestly. Had I truly thought my comment would spark a (ahem) conversation, I probably would’ve been more diplomatic. Alas, we don’t always get to choose what goes viral…and in this instance, all I can do is choose how I react to the aftermath of the situation. Furthermore, I hashtagged it as such for a reason: mainly, making that sort of comparison – even if it was in a non-sexual sense – is idiotic. Using that same logic mothers and sons/fathers and daughters would currently be getting married if that was such a concern. But it’s not; it’s an irrelevant distraction and Baldwin is smart enough to realize that.

While harsh language isn’t always the most PC way of making a point, sometimes it’s the most efficient. And in this case, it highlighted the egregious opinions of two celebrities that apparently enjoy bullying others online. [And on that note, as of today – Day 4 – both men (Searcy in particular) are still copying me on belligerent tweets despite my refusal to respond.]

Update as of March 5, 2014 at 2:00pm ET:

It appears as if Adam Baldwin has been doing some house cleaning – that is, he’s scrubbed many of the more heinous tweets from his Twitter account after he believed this all died down. I’m not the only one who’s noticed either Chez Pazienza at The Daily Banter wrote a follow up article on a similar encounter he had with Baldwin that ended with similar results. He said in part:

“What followed that were a hell of a lot of iterations of the word “lie” from him directed at me (with one tweet wondering whether I was fired from CNN for lying). I’d put them up here, but as a follower of his told me as the Twitter feud broadened out, he has a habit of “cleaning” his feed every so often, which is certainly his right but it makes it difficult to actually track what he says. It’s easy for somebody to say you’re lying about him when there’s no way to prove what he actually said and you’re forced to just trust him or his followers on his intent.”

Also, for the record, I’m not fat. I do believe fat-shaming is wrong regardless of body size, but apparently by Hollywood standards my 34″ waist makes me Shamu. Thankfully, by Boston standards, it just means I need another cheeseburger.

[The title of this article has been modified to more accurately reflect the full culmination of events and conversation.]

[View the story “Adam Baldwin and Nick Searcy’s Twitter Meltdown” on Storify]

Peacock Panache readers:

Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time he’s worn several hats including leading on campus LGBTQ advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website.

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