Alec Baldwin’s Twitter account deleted after post-Gandolfini funeral rant

Alec Baldwin's verified Twitter account was deleted late on Thursday after the apparently enraged actor published a series of tweets aimed at a Daily Mail journalist who wrote a story about his wife's conduct at James Gandolfini's funeral.

Yahoo News captured Baldwin's angry, occasionally homophobic tweets before his account was taken offline.

According to the Daily Mail, Baldwin's wife, Hilaria, tweeted during Gandolfini's funeral service at New York's Cathedral Church of Saint John:

Messages included a request for ideas about wedding anniversary presents and promotional notes about her upcoming appearance on the Rachael Ray show.

The 29-year-old, who is due to give birth to her first child this summer, did make time to pay tribute to the late actor amid the social media flurry, writing: ‘The circle of life is unbelievable--birth, life, death... Please take care of yourselves as life is fragile. Rest in Peace Jimmy.’

The newspaper even included a timeline of the purported tweets:

Around 8am: Mrs Baldwin retweeted an Us Weekly link about herself
8:47am: Tweeted about making smoothies on Rachael Ray. She then retweeted a Rachael Ray about her own beach bag packing tips
9:53am: She joked that Billy Joel’s ex-wife has good smoothie recipies
About 10am: Around the time the funeral is scheduled to start, she retweets Rachael Ray again, this time about her smoothies
10:17am: Tweets about the circle of life as James’ friends are speaking at his funeral
11:09am: She tweets asking for shopping tips for an anniversary present as Rev. Dr. Kowalski addressed the congregation
3.49pm She insists that she doesn't 'believe in bringing phones into a funeral' adding, 'I never did and I never would'

And:

During the time of the service, she re-tweeted a post from the Rachael Ray show, promoting one of her own recipes of a summer smoothie.

'I'm sure you have some amazing recipes!' Hilaria wrote.

Thursday afternoon, Hilaria tweeted: "I don't believe in bringing phones into a funeral and I never did and I never would."

According to The Associated Press, fellow "Sopranos" actors in attendance at Gandolfini's funeral included Edie Falco, Joe Pantoliano, Dominic Chianese, Steve Schirripa, Aida Turturro, Vincent Curatola, Tony Sirico, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli and Steve Buscemi. Baldwin, Julianna Margulies, Chris Noth, Marcia Gay Harden, Steve Carell and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were also there.

It's not the first time Baldwin's Twitter account has been at the center of a controversy. Early this year, Baldwin entered into a public feud on Twitter with actor Shia LaBeouf.

In 2011, Baldwin's Twitter feed was taken offline after a rant aimed at American Airlines after he was removed from a flight for failing to turn off a personal electronic device.