Alec Baldwin’s gun may have been loaded with a bullet ‘as revenge,’ says TV location manager

ALEC Baldwin's fatal shooting on the set of Rust was reported to be a tragic accident, but an industry insider has speculated that a crew member may have purposely put the bullet in the gun to gain "revenge" on the crisis-hit movie due to stress.

Veteran TV location manager John Dilbeck, the fiancé of Julia Roberts’ late sister Nancy Motes, is speaking out in exasperation at the state of Hollywood after the pandemic.

Dilbeck claims that the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by ’s fatal gunshot is just the tip of the iceberg of what goes on behind the scenes in .

Last week, Baldwin, 64, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter after a Colt. 45 he was holding during rehearsals discharged, killing Hutchins on set in Santa Fe, , in October 2021.

Dilbeck, 40, who worked extensively on and its spin-off shows, is open to the possibility that this may not have been an accident, such is the toxic atmosphere among crew and actors.

He partly blames the expensive protocol, which has seen budgets slashed to pieces, while A-list talent still demand the same millions they earned pre-pandemic.

"I don't honestly believe that Alec Baldwin wanted to kill anyone, but I do believe somebody may have deliberately put that round in the chamber to set him up because they were tired of his abuse.

"These actors are not who you think they are and Alec Baldwin has always been egotistical, it’s renowned in the industry," Dilbeck told The U.S. Sun.

"By their own orchestration of cutting money and costs, they created the parameter of danger and they are absolutely responsible.

"And when I say they, [I mean] Alec Baldwin is responsible. He is an executive producer. He has done this long enough to know better. He's tried to blame virtually everyone else.

"Hollywood is out of control, we need to stop the toxicity in this industry, which is near enough killing people.

"If we as an industry, and also the justice system, don’t make an example out of Alec Baldwin, what or who will stop the next Alec Baldwin from breaking the rules?

"He kept pushing and pushing the crew. We know there were many crew strikes leading up to that incident. They had multiple strikes, even on the day of the shooting.

"If I was a location manager on Rust, I would have stopped and shut their permit down. I could have saved someone's life potentially like I was trying to with Nancy."