Alec Baldwin has dismissed criticism from Anderson Cooper over anti-gay remarks Baldwin made toward George Stark, a reporter for the Daily Mail.

After Stark accused Baldwin's wife of tweeting during the funeral for actor James Gandolfini, Baldwin called on his 1 million Twitter followers to “straighten out” Stark, calling him a “toxic little queen” and a “lying little bitch.”

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked “Why does #AlecBaldwin get a pass when he uses gay slurs?”

“If a conservative talked of beating up a 'queen' they would be vilified,” Cooper tweeted.

Appearing on Howard Stern's SiriusXM satellite radio show, Baldwin said that he was surprised by Cooper's criticism.

“That was the one that shocked me the most,” Baldwin said. “What I realize about him is, everybody in the media, they have a job to do. Anderson Cooper has a job to do. And that job is to try to reinforce his credibility in the gay community after the fact that you couldn't get him out of the closet for 10 years with a canister of tear gas. Now he's the sheriff. Now he's running around writing everybody a ticket!”