Alec Baldwin offered to quit 30 Rock over parenting gaffe

Actor Alec Baldwin asked NBC to let him out of his contract for the show 30 Rock, but the network would not accept his resignation.

Baldwin said he wanted to quit the sitcom so others on the show wouldn't be hurt by the scandalcaused byremarks he made to his 11-year-old daughter.

Headded thathe wants to spend more time raising the issue of relations between divorced parents and their children.

Baldwin was speakingin a taped interview with ABC's The View, to be aired on Friday. ABC released a partial transcript of the interview.

"If I never acted again, I couldn't care less," Baldwin said, adding that he wants to devote his time to "parental alienation."

Baldwin, who is divorced from actress Kim Basinger, called their 11-year-old daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig" after she failed to answer a pre-arranged call. Celebrity website TMZ.com released a tape of Baldwin's remarks.

Baldwin said he offered to quit 30 Rock, where he plays a venal, egocentric television executive, because he didn't want the show or other cast members to be "hurt by the situation."

OnThe View, co-host Barbara Walters asked Baldwin about his harsh remarks to his daughter.

"You didn't mean to say it to your child?" she said.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with being frustrated or angry about something," he replied.

"It's the way you do it, and as people often do in this world, I took it out on the wrong person because I'm unable, under the current dynamic, to address the other person. I realize that was wrong."

"You said it to your daughter, but you meant it for your ex-wife?" Walters asked.

"Well, I think that goes without saying, quite frankly," Baldwin said.

Basinger and Baldwin have been divorced since 2002, but are in a custody dispute over their daughter, Ireland.

He declined to say whether he has since had contact with his daughter, but said there is a hearing on visitation issues scheduled for May 4.

Baldwin said he wants to raise the public profile of the issue of divorced parents and their relations with their children.

He told The View he would be happy to quit acting to focus on the problem.

"I've had enough of this, quite frankly, to last me a lifetime, especially in the modern tabloid world and there's a bigger thing I want to do, there's a more important thing I want to do," Baldwin said.

He has a book coming out about divorce litigation, possibly this fall, he said.

"There were bills that were proposed [by California lawmakers] that were killed which were about equality and co-parenting and divorce litigation and this is work that I've been creeping up on, but I've been busy," he said.