A British tabloid claimed that Alec Baldwin's wife Hilaria Baldwin tweeted during the funeral of Soprano's star James Gandolfini. When Alec Baldwin heard about the article in The Daily Mail he launched into an irate and homophobic tirade on Twitter. 

Baldwin's pregnant wife, Hilaria, did tweet about the funeral and addressed one of her posts to James Gandolfini or as she referred to him 'Jimmy'. As The Mail pointed out this post was between two considerably chirpier ones including discussing recipes and asking advice from her followers about anniversary presents.

Unfortunately, as the time is recorded on Twitter, The Mail does have a point, evidently upon arriving at the funeral or even during the course of it Hilaria was on her phone. 

Alec and Hilaria Baldwin
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin at the opening night of The Unavoidable Appearance of Tom Durin, New York 2013

Her post in memory of Gandolfini was at 10.17am (the funeral began at 10am) this was around the time, as The Mail points out, his friends and family were making their eulogies. Her tweet read "the circle of life is unbelievable--birth, life, death... Please take care of yourselves as life is fragile. Rest in Peace Jimmy".

Baldwin upon hearing about article launch into a tirade, tweeting "My wife and I attend a funeral to pay our respects to an old friend, and some toxic Brit writes this f***ing trash".

Baldwin's use of language did not remain at simple profanities but he crammed in some homophobic slurs too - just for good measure. He called George Stark, the writer of The Mail piece, a "toxic little queen". Following this rant he disabled his Twitter account.

Baldwin is, unsurprisingly, not renowned for his people skills.

James Gandolfini
The late James Gandolfini whose funeral Hilaria was attending when she allegedly used her mobile phone. 

In the defence of Hilaria (although this writer does not agree with the use of mobile phones at funerals), The Co-Operative Funeral Care conducted a survey on phone use at funerals which showed the practise is rife. According to this research, one in six admitted to having used a mobile phone during a funeral service. 

Baldwin and his wife were just two of many celebrities to attend the funeral in New York yesterday (27th June). Others included many of The Soprano's cast and crew, as well as Boardwalk Empire's leading man Steve Buscemi.

26-year-old Hilaria is due to give birth to Baldwin's child sometime this summer.

Hilaria Baldwin
Hilaria Baldwin arriving at Gandolfini's funeral - at this point without her phone!