Alan Cumming
Scottish actor returns knightly orders
Actor Alan Cumming no longer holds the title Officer of the British Empire.
© 2018 Jamie Lamor Thompson/Shutterstock.com
Scottish actor Alan Cumming has announced on Instagram that he has returned his OBE Order.
Actor Alan Cumming, known from the James Bond film “GoldenEye”, has his 58th birthday on January 27th in an Instagram post announced that he has recently officially returned his Order of Knights Officer of the British Empire (OBE).
Fourteen years ago he was incredibly grateful to have been inducted into the Queen’s Birthday Honors (1926-2022) and to have received the Order “because it was not only awarded for my work as an actor, but ‘for activism for Equality in the Gay and Lesbian Community, USA,'” Cumming wrote in his post, in which he shared pictures of himself now and then after the awards ceremony.
Discourse on monarchy has ‘opened his eyes’
The Scottish-born actor, who is also a US citizen, went on to explain that the Queen’s death and the ensuing discussions about the role of the monarchy and “particularly the way the British Empire is doing at the expense (and death) indigenous peoples around the world have really opened my eyes”. He has concerns about being associated with the “toxicity of the Empire”. He therefore gave up the medal, explained his reasons and thanked him for having received it at all. “I’m just plain old Alan Cumming again now.”