Contrary to Tuesday’s heavily discussed rumor, actor Alec Baldwin won’t be replacing former “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.
Citing an unnamed source, PopEater reported Tuesday that MSNBC insiders were seriously considering Baldwin for a television host gig.
“He’s already part of the NBC family, has a huge fan base and is very respected for his long term passions for politics,” the network source told PopEater.
MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines assured the Daily News that Baldwin wouldn’t be joining MSNBC anytime soon.
“Entertaining report, but not true,” Gaines said.
Baldwin’s spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said the actor isn’t going after for the “Countdown” hosting position. Hiltzik added that Baldwin still has two years left on his “30 Rock” television show contract.
“Alec is committed to ’30 Rock’ through 2012,” Hiltzik said.
At the beginning of the year, Baldwin told CNN’s “Parker Spitzer” host Eliot Spitzer that he’s “very, very interested in” running for political office, but that he’d have a rough time parting ways with show business.
“I’ve grown to really love where I am now in my business and to quit now when it really feels good and doing it feels good would be an enormously difficult thing to do,” Baldwin said.
On Friday’s episode of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” Olbermann made an unexpected announcement to viewers that it would be his final broadcast and his MSNBC contract had ended. The justification behind Olbermann’s abrupt departure remains unclear.