Stop me if you've heard this one: ALEC BALDWIN blew up at a newspaper reporter and her photographer on Sunday morning. And his tirade allegedly included a RACIAL SLUR.  Alec was walking his dogs when a female reporter for the "New York Post" tried to ask him about a lawsuit that was recently filed against his wife by one of her yoga students who got injured.  

The woman says Baldwin took her by the arm and said, "I want you to choke to death."  Then he turned on her photographer, who's black.  He reportedly called the guy a "crackhead", a "drug dealer" and a racial slur that RHYMES WITH "MOON".

It turns out the guy is actually a retired NYPD officer, and he showed Baldwin an ID proving it. Baldwin called it FAKE.  Alec and the photographer both filed harassment claims against each other.  

Baldwin later Tweeted, "Thank u 2 NYPD officers who came to my home 2day so that I could file a formal complaint against NY Post 'photographer' who assaulted me."  Then he added,  "Ralston claims he's ex NYPD!! That can't be!!! Ex NYPD don't become crackhead, ex jailhouse paparazzi!"

The photographer's name is NOT "Ralston". There's no word what Baldwin meant by that.   Baldwin has since removed those Tweets, but he later issued a statement saying, "The claim of racist remarks is one of the most outrageous things I've heard in my life." (And here's video of Alec refusing to talk to TMZ about this chaos.)

He also posted another Tweet saying, "I find it ironic that my [charitable] foundation's last grant was $50,000 to the Arthur Ashe Learning Center."  (Ashe was a black tennis star who broke a lot of racial barriers in the '60s and '70s.)