Alec Baldwin's daughter apologizes after conflating Latinx and Spanish while defending stepmom Hilaria Baldwin from cultural appropriation allegations

Ireland Baldwin — daughter of actor Alec Baldwin and actress Kim Basinger — has issued an apology to social media after conflating Latinx and Spanish nationalities while defending her stepmother from accusations of faking a Spanish heritage.

What's a brief history here?

Earlier this month, Hilaria Baldwin was accused of cultural appropriation after social media users insisted that she appeared to suggest she possessed a Spanish nationality.

Social media users took Hilaria — Ireland's stepmother and Alec's current wife — to task over the allegations, accusing her of faking a Spanish accent and blasting her for appearing to never correct habitual reports that she was of Spanish nationality.

On Monday, Ireland Baldwin defended Hilaria in an Instagram video, writing, "It's so pathetic that anyone would wanna play detective, and dig that deep into someone's life that they don't know, don't know anything about, how they were raised, who they were actually raised by. It's just kinda sad and pathetic."

She continued, "[I]t's the holidays, and people are depressed, people are going through a lot. I know I'm going through a lot, personally. And the last thing we really need to do is start s**t and gossip about something that is so, so stupid. And about somebody that nobody really even knows."

"This person has dug up old tweets from Hilaria's high school peers, and they all say one thing about her, that she's really kind, when they reflect back on their experience with her," Alec Baldwin's daughter continued. “And that's because she is very kind, she's a good person. And she's a caring person who's always respected my relationship with my dad. I have a great relationship with her. And she could be a really malicious, terrible, horrible human who tears people down, but she isn't. Hilaria is a wonderful mother who takes great care of her kids, and she takes great care of my dad. And that's really all that matters to me."

In a since-deleted post, Ireland Baldwin then added, "I simply want to say this and then nothing more. I am fully supportive of any individual of the Latinx community. I will continue to listen and learn. But I also feel defensive when misinformation spreads regarding my family. I will do better. ... At the same time, I hope that people can start getting information from credible sources."

What are the details?

Following the defense of her stepmother, Ireland took to Instagram once more and revealed that many people remarked on her original post and blasted her for conflating "Latinx" — which refers to a person of Latin American nationality — and Spanish. Spain is a European country.

In a now-viral Tuesday night Instagram post, the 25-year-old model said that the topic of "cultural appropriation" is an important one, and thanked her followers for "sharing with me ways I can do better."

She began, "I moved out of a major city with the intention of escaping the public eye in a small but significant way. I couldn't take a deep breath in Los Angeles and was dealing with a great deal of anxiety that I didn't know how to manage. Stories come out about my family members that often times are fabricated or blown out of proportion.

"I've spent so much time getting worked up and upset seeing people dig into my parent's [sic] divorce and relationship history, into my past having visited a mental rehabilitation facility, and so many PRIVATE ordeals made public," she continued. "That's the thing I can say that most of you don't understand... what it's like to have your family's private affairs aired out and analyzed by millions of strangers.

"Now the purpose of this isn't to ask for any kind of sympathy," Baldwin added, "I simply want to point out a couple of things. 1. Like I mentioned yesterday, I do love my step mom very much. I think she's a strong, kind, and caring human being. Without saying anything further on all of this, I think it is her business and not my own to discuss her family background and answer your questions."

She continued, "2. I really appreciate the Instagram friends in my DMS [sic] who have been very open and honestly having discussions about cultural appropriation, the right terms to address their communities, and sharing with me ways that I can do better. 3. I don't see the significance in bullying anyone. Yes, it's important to educate. And YES it's beyond ok to express frustration and confusion and anger... but I think sending threatening messages isn't really going to get any kind of message across either."

She concluded, "4. I appreciate those who are patient with me. I don't have a publicist or a team of people who are all writing my posts and gathering my thoughts and making them as politically correct as possible... I'm going to f*** up. I'm a flawed human being who is still deep in this learning journey. I apologize to those who are dealing with any kind of hurt during these times and I hope you have a Happy New Year."

Has Hilaria responded to any of this?

On Tuesday night, Hilaria took to her own social media channel and addressed the ongoing controversy.

In a video, she said, "Yes I am a white girl, my family is white … Europe has a lot of white people in them. Ethnically I am a mix of many, many things."

Hilaria also referred to herself as a "different kind of Bostonian."

"[Y]ou can't change your background and nor would I want to," she insisted. "This is who I am, and this is my life story … it's my weird mix of who I am."