Alec Baldwin Addresses Photographer Scuffle on 'Late Show' (Video)

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While his angry face was splashed across the cover of the New York Daily News, showcasing his allegedly violent clash with a photographer from the paper (see the front page headline: "30 Rocky"), Alec Baldwin candidly addressed his latest tabloid controversy during Wednesday's Late Show With David Letterman.

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The day before, the mercurial 54-year-old actor made headlines when he scuffled with photographer Marcus Santos outside the Marriage License Bureau in Manhattan. The Daily News reported that Baldwin clocked Santos in the face after he obtained a license to wed his fiancee, yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas.

"He's very masterful at getting really close to you with the camera. ... They want you to react. No one got punched by the way," Baldwin told Letterman, who agreed he was "unnecessarily provoked."

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"I kinda pushed him out of the way because he almost hit me in the face with the camera," he said. "Had I punched him, I'd be in jail. Then I would have pressed charges against him for assault. Then we would both be in the jail cell together. And you don't want to know what would happen in the jail cell, if we were together in the jail cell."

After Tuesday's encounter, Santos said he filed an assault complaint with the NYPD against the actor.

"I knew he was going to attack me," he recalled. "I stepped back, and he kept coming. He comes after me, starts shoving and punching me -- one time, right in the chin. And then he started shoving me, and pushing me. Then he goes the other way."

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Later Wednesday, Baldwin was in good spirits as he escorted Thomas to THR and Cinema Society's premiere of his latest film, the Woody Allen-directed To Rome With Love, at New York's Paris Theater.

Watch a clip of Baldwin reacting to his appearance on the Daily News' front page.